Revitalizing neighbourhoods through sustainable brownfields redevelopment: Principles put into practice in Bridgeport, CT

This article chronicles activities and approaches carried out in working with community partners and public and private stakeholders in advancing revitalization within Bridgeport, CT. The approach described utilizes brownfields redevelopment as a focal point for a stakeholder process whose goal is neighbourhood revitalization. Two neighbourhoods—the Went End and East End—are the focus for major stakeholder-driven brownfields redevelopment processes. The article defines key elements of the stakeholder process including: involvement at several levels from neighbours to the site to the Mayor's office and beyond, a risk communication process that incorporates the broad concerns of the stakeholders including crime and violence, and the need for ongoing oversight and management throughout the redevelopment process.     

Assessing national sustainable development strategies: Strengthening the links to operational policy

At the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, it was agreed that all countries should develop a national sustainable develop‐ment strategy (NSDS) as a key component of implementing the goals of Agenda 21. Progress has been limited. Few countries have established a formal strategy, and many of the strategies that exist have been only partially implemented. This article proposes an approach that addresses the need to improve existing strategic planning mechanisms. The approach is based on a periodic assessment of existing systems, to evaluate the extent to which they incorporate NSDS principles, and identify areas to be strengthened. The article describes an assessment methodology, presents examples of its use, and discusses ways in which current approaches to NSDS may be complemented by continual review and improvement of existing planning processes.     

WEST AFRICA: VOLTA DISCHARGE DATA QUALITY ASSESSMENT AND USE1

ABSTRACT: Water resource management in West Africa is often a complicated process due to inadequate resources, climatic extremes, and insufficient hydrological information. Insufficient data hinder sustainable watershed management practices, one of the top priorities in the Volta River Basin. This research properly fills in missing data by modeling the hydrological distribution in the Volta River Basin. On average, discharge gages across the basin are missing 20 percent of their monthly data over 20 years. Two methods were used to supplement missing data: a statistically linear model and a conceptual hydrological model. A linear equation, developed from the regression of precipitation and runoff, was used to evaluate the quality of existing data. The hydrological model separates the system into root and groundwater zones. Measured values were used to calibrate the hydrological model and to validate the statistical model. The quality of existing data was analyzed and organized for usability. Accuracy of the hydrological model was also evaluated for its effectiveness using R² and standard error. It was found that the hydrological model was an improvement from the linear model on a monthly basis; R² values improved by as much as 0.5 and monthly error decreased. Monthly predictions of the hydrological model were used to fill gaps of measured data sets.     

Sustainable Tourism and the Touristic Ecological Footprint

There is growing interest in ecological footprint analysis in aiding our understanding of societal demands upon the biosphere. Increasingly, attention is being focused on potential new applications of the technique. Tourism is one of the world's largest industries and can play a major part in encouraging more consumerist lifestyles. It is now widely accepted that tourism development may have profound impacts on local environments, and that, consequently, the sustainable development of tourism at destination areas is an important issue. However, sustainable tourism studies rarely look beyond the destination area, and there has been no substantive recognition of the wider ecological footprint of tourism activities. This paper attempts to connect, conceptually, the realms of sustainable tourism and ecological footprint thinking. In so doing, various conceptualisations of the 'touristic ecological footprint' (TEF) are suggested, along with some potential applications. It is argued that primary research should focus on calculating the touristic ecological footprint associated with individual tourism products, throughout the product's life-cycle. As well as bringing another dimension to our understanding of tourism's actual ecological demand, it is also argued that the concept of the touristic ecological footprint may be used to clarify theoretical aspects of the sustainable tourism debate, helping to rejuvenate this debate in the process.     

Linking rights and standards: the process of developing "rights-based" minimum standards on food security, nutrition and food aid

This article examines the recent revision of the Sphere Minimum Standards in disaster response relating to food security, nutrition and food aid. It describes how the revision attempted to incorporate the principles of the Humanitarian Charter, as well as relevant human rights principles and values into the Sphere Minimum Standards. The initial aim of the revision was to ensure that the Sphere Minimum Standards better reflected the principles embodied in the Humanitarian Charter. This was later broadened to ensure that key legal standards and principles from human rights and humanitarian law were considered and also incorporated, in part to fill the "protection gap" within the existing standards. In relation to the food security, nutrition and food aid standards, it was agreed by participants in the process that the human right to adequate food and freedom from hunger should be incorporated. In relation to more general principles underlying the Humanitarian Charter, itself drawn largely from human rights and humanitarian law, it was agreed that there was a need to strengthen "protection" elements within the standards and a need to incorporate the basic principles of the right to life with dignity, non-discrimination, impartiality and participation, as well as to explore the relevance of the concept of the progressive realisation of the right to food. The questions raised in linking rights to operational standards required thought, on the one hand, about whether the technical standards reflected a deep understanding of the values expressed within the legal instruments, and whether the existing standards were adequate in relation to those legal rights. On the other hand, it also required reflection on how operational standards like Sphere could give concrete content to human rights, such as the right to food and the right to be free from hunger. However, there remain challenges in examining what a rights-based approach will mean in terms of the role of humanitarian agencies as duty-bearers of rights, given that the primary responsibility rests with state governments. It will also require reflection on the modes and mechanisms of accountability that are brought to bear in ensuring the implementation of the Minimum Standards.     

Conservation Opportunities for Securing In-Stream Flows in the Platte River Basin: A Case Study Drawing on Casper,Wyoming’s MunicipalWater Strategy

The Platte River Basin consists of tributaries largely in Wyoming, Colorado and Western Nebraska, with the main stem in Central Nebraska. Critical wildlife habitat on the main stem requires additional in-stream flows. The watershed is one hosting multiple resources, a variety of users, and managed by an array of state and federal agencies. This study proposes a basis for securing in-stream flows for the Platte River. Candidate water supply mechanisms are suggested based on the way in which Casper, Wyoming secured water for its municipal needs. Canal lining is compared to a dam project, increasing reservoir storage, and purchasing water rights, with consideration also made for water pricing to reduce municipal use. Comparisons are based on economic efficiency, potential water conservation, and property rights criteria. Canal lining, coupled with demand management, is shown to conserve water best, given the set of efficiency and cost criteria for in-stream flow enhancement. The approach offers an opportunity to organize the water supply choice context in a transboundary watershed when quantitative information is limited.     

Sediment and porewater geochemistry in a metal contaminated estuary,Dulas Bay,Anglesey

Remobilisation of contaminant metals from sediments can occur by chemical, biological or physical changes. This in turn can lead to contaminant fluxes to the porewaters and ultimately the water column. The aim of the research presented here is to document post-depositional controls on metal mobility and fluxes in a heavily metal-contaminated estuary. This will allow for an improved understanding of the impact of contaminated sediments on water quality from both a short-term and long-term perspective. Dulas Bay is situated on the east coast of Anglesey, North Wales, and receives polluted waters from Parys Mountain. Metals within Dulas Bay sediments show surface enrichment and variations in mineralogical form. Diagenesis clearly plays a role in post-depositional behaviour of the metals, forming sulphides and potentially carbonates. The presence of a dominant exchangeable/carbonate fraction, and elevated porewater metals, in this sulphidic system is significant and could indicate the presence of freshwater diagenesis, or, reflect the high levels of metals in the sediment.     

Sensitivity and first-step uncertainty analyses for the preferential flow model MACRO

Sensitivity analyses for the preferential flow model MACRO were carried out using one-at-a-time and Monte Carlo sampling approaches. Four different scenarios were generated by simulating leaching to depth of two hypothetical pesticides in a sandy loam and a more structured clay loam soil. Sensitivity of the model was assessed using the predictions for accumulated water percolated at a 1-m depth and accumulated pesticide losses in percolation. Results for simulated percolation were similar for the two soils. Predictions of water volumes percolated were found to be only marginally affected by changes in input parameters and the most influential parameter was the water content defining the boundary between micropores and macropores in this dual-porosity model. In contrast, predictions of pesticide losses were found to be dependent on the scenarios considered and to be significantly affected by variations in input parameters. In most scenarios, predictions for pesticide losses by MACRO were most influenced by parameters related to sorption and degradation. Under specific circumstances, pesticide losses can be largely affected by changes in hydrological properties of the soil. Since parameters were varied within ranges that approximated their uncertainty, a first-step assessment of uncertainty for the predictions of pesticide losses was possible. Large uncertainties in the predictions were reported, although these are likely to have been overestimated by considering a large number of input parameters in the exercise. It appears desirable that a probabilistic framework accounting for uncertainty is integrated into the estimation of pesticide exposure for regulatory purposes.     

Isomer specific syntheses of chlorinated catechols and guaiacols relevant to pulp bleaching

A variety of chlorinated catechols and guaiacols relevant to pulp bleaching were synthesized by employing fundamental differences in the acidities of phenolic hydroxyl groups in chlorinated catechols, and directive effects in guaiacols.