The economic,environmental and agricultural land use effects in the European Union of agricultural labour subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy

In this study, we assessed the economic, environmental and agricultural land use impacts in the EU of a 20% reduction in the Pillar I budget of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union (EU) and spending the saved money via a subsidy on labour in primary agriculture. The impact of such a policy has been assessed with a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and a partial equilibrium (PE) model. It is concluded that reallocation of Pillar I budgets to a coupled agricultural labour subsidy increased employment in agriculture, especially in agricultural sectors and regions that are relatively labour intensive. Average employment in agriculture in the EU increased with 1.6% in the CGE model and with 0.6% in the PE model. Agricultural production and environmental emissions from agriculture increased as well. At the same time, prices of agricultural outputs decreased. Value added including subsidies increased for agricultural labour, but total value added in agriculture decreased. The latter was especially explained by decreased land prices and land-related value added. Measured in terms of equivalent variation, total welfare in the EU decreased. Welfare costs equalled about 1400 € per full-time work equivalent in agriculture extra. These results show that policy makers should weigh carefully the pros and cons of the direct and indirect overall economic, environmental and land use impacts of a subsidy on agricultural labour at the expense of the Pillar I budget of the EU CAP.

     

A cross-scale impact assessment of European nature protection policies under contrasting future socio-economic pathways

Regional Environmental Change - Protection of natural or semi-natural ecosystems is an important part of societal strategies for maintaining biodiversity, ecosystem services, and achieving overall...     

Air pollution, precipitation chemistry and forest health in the Retezat Mountains, Southern Carpathians, Romania

In the Retezat Mountains concentrations of O3, NO2 and SO2 in summer season 2000-2002 were low and below toxicity levels for forest trees. While NH3 concentrations were low in 2000, the 2001 and 2002 concentrations were elevated indicating possibility for increased N deposition to forest stands. More than 90% of the rain events were acidic with pH values <5.5, contributing to increased acidity of soils. Crown condition of Norway spruce (Picea abies) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica) was good, however, defoliation described as >25% of foliage injured increased from 9.1% in 2000 to 16.1% in 2002. Drought that occurred in the southern Carpathians between fall 2000 and summer 2002 and frequent acidic rainfalls could cause the observed decline of forest condition. Both Norway spruce and European beech with higher defoliation had lower annual radial increments compared to the trees with low defoliation. Ambient O3 levels found in the Retezat did not affect crown condition of Norway spruce or European beech.     

Work ability in ageing workers suffering from chronic diseases.

The aim of this study was to investigate the work ability in ageing workers suffering from osteoarthritis (OA), coronary heart disease (CHD) or hypertension (H). One hundred and sixty-six OA and 355 CHD/H outpatients were evaluated. The Work Ability Index (WAI) served for work ability assessment. Patients' results were compared with the results of a control group of 225 healthy young workers. Statistical analysis was performed with ANOVA tests. WAI in female and male CHD/H patients was higher than in OA patients (p < .01), better work ability was related to better education (p < .01), white-collar work (p < .01) and better recreation (p < .01); subjective work ability was determined mostly by the objective health status. The promotion of work ability among workers suffering from advanced age-related diseases should be closely related to the promotion of health. It is indicative to improve occupational education and skills, already at an early stage of a disease.     

Effect of aerobic pretreatment of waste on the rate of anaerobic treatment processes

The efficiency of waste degradation can be expressed by the rate of waste decomposition in individual phases. This article presents the durations of degradation phases of pretreated and untreated waste stabilized in anaerobic laboratory reactors. In this investigation, the quantities of organic and nitrogen contaminants emitted from the waste during the study are presented. The study confirmed the beneficial effects of aerobic pretreatment of waste before landfilling on reducing the duration of hydrolysis and acid phases, and speeding up the start of the stable methane phase. In the pretreated waste reactor, the stable methane phase began about 19 weeks earlier than in the untreated waste. The total amounts of contaminants removed from the aerobic pretreatment waste were lower than from untreated waste, with values of COD, TOC, BOD₅, and VFA corresponding to 21, 18, 6, and 23 %, respectively, and values of TKN and NH₄ of 7 and 50 %, respectively.     

Phytotoxicity of landfill leachate on willow – Salix amygdalina L.

Because of low investment and operational costs, interest is increasing in the use of willow plants in landfill leachate disposal. Toxic effects of leachate on the plants should be avoided in the initial period of growth and phytotoxicological testing may be helpful to select appropriate leachate dose rates. The aim of this study was to determine the phytotoxicity of landfill leachate on young willow (Salix amygdalina L.) cuttings, as a criterion for dose rate selection in the early phase of growth. Over a test period of 6 weeks plants were exposed to six concentrations of landfill leachate solutions (0%; 6.25%; 12.5%; 25%; 50% and 100%), under two different regimes. In regime A willow plants were cultivated in leachate solution from the beginning, whereas in regime B they were grown initially in clean water for 4 weeks, after which the water was exchanged for leachate solutions. The lowest effective concentration causing toxic effects (LOEC) was calculated (p < 0.05). In regime A LOEC was between 5.44% and 6.50% of leachate concentration, but slightly higher in regime B (5.32–6.59%). Willow plants were able to survive in landfill leachate solutions with electrical conductivity (EC) values up to 5.0 mS/cm in regime A, whereas in regime B plants were killed when EC exceeded 3.0 mS/cm. This indicates an ability of willow plants to tolerate higher strengths of landfill leachate if they are cultivated in such concentrations from the beginning.     

Estimation of energy demand of fermentation-based hydrogen production

The paper is concerned with estimation of heat and power consumption in a conceptual plant to produce hydrogen from sucrose-containing or starchy biomass by fermentation. A hydrogen plant connected with a sugar factory is regarded as the basic option; the sugar factory serves as a source of sucrose-containing thick juice for the hydrogen plant, where this feedstock is processed to hydrogen. As another option, a stand-alone hydrogen plant in which starch must initially be converted to fermentable glucose solution is considered. The values of key process parameters are assumed on the basis of preliminary experimental data. For both options of the hydrogen plant, heat consumption is estimated taking heat recovery in a heat exchanger network into account. Power consumption is estimated by calculating power needed for pumping of liquid and gaseous process media.     

The impact of sea-level rise along the Polish Baltic coast

A DTM (Digital Terrain Model) map and the analytical powers of GIS (Geographical Information System) were used in deterministic and probabilistic methods for analysis of inundation of a coastal area. These methods were applied to evaluate the effects of a rise in sea-level on the coastal zone of the Puck Lagoon (Poland) over a period of 100 years. The analysis evaluated the following aspects: the threat to man-made objects such as buildings and roads; changes in the impact of the sea on the coastal environment manifested as the frequency of flooding of grasslands and marshland in the coastal depression, and the formation of a dune embankment. The analysis covered a ca. 5 km stretch of low-lying coastline, in which there are two rapidly growing villages and a nature reserve. The study showed that a sealevel rise of 40 cm would increase the frequency of flooding in the area and would probably cause the dune ridge vegetation to deteriorate.     

The controlling of landfill leachate evapotranspiration from soil-plant systems with willow: Salix amygdalina L.

The use of willows (Salix amygdalina L) to manage landfill leachate disposal is an effective and cost-effective method due to the high transpiration ability of the willow plants. A 2-year lysimetric experiment was performed to determine an optimum leachate hydraulic loading rate to achieve high evapotranspiration but exert no harmful influence on the plants. The evapotranspiration rate of a soil-plant system planted with the willow was 1.28-5.12-fold higher than the rate measured on a soil surface lacking vegetation, suggesting that soil-willow systems with high volatilization rates are a viable landfill leachate treatment method. Of the soil-willow systems, the one with willow growing on sand amended with sewage sludge soil at an hydraulic loading rate of 1 mm day(-1) performed best, with evapotranspiration ranging from 2.25 to 3.02 mm day(-1) and a biomass yield of 8.0-9.85 Mg dry matter ha(-1). The organic fraction of the soil increased as much as 2.5% of dry matter, due to the sewage sludge input, which exerted a positive effect on the biomass yield as well as on transpiration and evaporation. It was observed that the plants in the sand-and-sewage sludge soil systems displayed higher resistance to toxic effects from the applied landfill leachate relative to plants in the sand-soil systems.