Practical actions for applied systematic conservation planning

Systematic conservation planning is intended to inform spatially explicit decision making. Doing so requires that it be integrated into complex regulatory and governance processes, and there are limited instances where this has been achieved effectively. South Africa is a global leader in the application of conservation plans, the outputs of which are widely used for spatial planning and decision making in many spheres of government. We aimed to determine how conservation planning in the country progressed from theory to implementation, and to identify practical actions that enabled this transition, by assessing temporal trends in the characteristics of conservation plans (1990–2017, n = 94). Since 2010 conservation planning has entered an operational period characterized by government leadership of plans, administrative rather than ecological planning domains, decreasing size of planning units, increasing emphasis on end-user products, and scheduled revision of plans. Key actions that enabled this progression include transitioning leadership of plans from scientists to practitioners, building capacity within implementing agencies, creating opportunities to integrate plans in legislative processes, establishing a strong community of practice, adopting implementation-focused methods, and balancing standardization with innovation. Learning from this model will allow other countries, particularly those with a similar megadiverse, developing context, to operationalize conservation planning into spatial planning and decision making.     

JEEM and Non-market Valuation: 1974–1998

This paper considers whether the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management (JEEM) has had impact on the development and applications of the methods used to estimate economic values for non-marketed environmental resources. Journal editors control the research dialogue in a discipline and as a result have the potential to influence its scope and direction. At least four areas of research have been influenced by JEEM, the theory and practice of contingent valuation, the use of preference restrictions in valuation, the development and application of corner solution models, and the role of substitution between environmental resources for valuation.     

Risk analysis in research environment – Part II: Weighting Lab Criticity Index using the Analytic Hierarchy Process

A new methodology for risk analysis, namely Laboratory Assessment and Risk Analysis – LARA, is proposed in the companion paper to assess risks in research/academia environment. The core of this methodology relies on defining the adequate role player factors to assess risks in research environment and their mathematical combination to quantify and assess the risk. Quantitative outcome of the analysis results in a Lab Criticity Index – LCI, constructed as a rather comprehensive function of probability, severity, risk worsening factors, research specificities and Hazard Detectability. Even though the LCI model can be used at this stage, its “surjective” and “linear” properties were outlined; the non differentiation between LCI factors remains to be solved.The present article addresses this problematic, bringing a solution based on a Multicriteria Decision Making – MCDM modeling, namely Analytic Hierarchy Process – AHP. This leads to a refined criticity index being “bijective” and unique for every combination of factors.A preliminary risk assessment based on the LARA methodology is discussed for a research lab working with lasers.     

Uncertainty and allocation decisions involving unique environmental resources

The implications of the treatment of uncertainty in the definition of optimal investment criteria for irreversible allocations of unique environmental resources are considered herein. This analysis argues that the single-project, orientation of conventional cost-benefit analysis can lead to inconsistent decisions because it fails to take account of the potential for risk pooling across projects. In the models discussed in this paper uncertainty arises because the planner must estimate the net benefits associated with a mix of developed and preserved natural environments. The results suggest that the criteria for optimal investment plans will be affected by those factors influencing this uncertainty. Both the scale and timing of optimal investments may be altered from those prescribed with the conventional (Fisher-Krutilla-Cicchetti rule) framework when the potential for risk pooling is introduced. Thus, it is important to consider as a part of the specification of the objective function the factors which give rise to uncertainty.     

Clogging of finger drain systems in MSW landfills

A numerical model ‘BioClog’ is used to examine clogging of granular drainage material within finger drains at the base of landfills. The reduction in porosity of drainage material is evaluated as the accumulation of clog mass reduces the pore spaces of granular media. The leachate mounding within the landfills caused by the reduction in hydraulic conductivity of finger drain is modeled. The effect of overburden pressure on the engineering properties of waste material and consequent leachate mounding is considered. The calculated rates of leachate mound development for two landfills with finger drain leachate collection are shown to be in encouraging agreement with the observed data at the times when data were available. It is demonstrated that a significant leachate mound can be expected to develop over time when the leachate collection system is comprised of finger drains; however the rate of increase and the magnitude at a given time will depend on a number of factors including the grainsize, thickness and spacing of the finger drains, and the thickness of waste as well as the leachate generation rate.     

Intertemporal and intergenerational pareto efficiency revisited

This paper demonstrates that Bishop's formulation deviates in a fundamental way from our model and, in so doing, Bishop has assumed the problem away. Bishop utilizes a utility function that is too general to discriminate the time pattern of consumption from that of production. Hence, the intertemporal nature of the goods that we analyzed cannot be captured by Bishop's representation. Furthermore, we show that current benefit cost methods that discount the benefit stream of a public asset are Pareto intertemporally inefficient.     

Pharmaceuticals and other organic chemicals in selected north-central and northwestern Arkansas streams

Recently, our attention has focused on the low level detection of many antibiotics, pharmaceuticals, and other organic chemicals in water resources. The limited studies available suggest that urban or rural streams receiving wastewater effluent are more susceptible to contamination. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of antibiotics, pharmaceuticals, and other organic chemicals at 18 sites on seven selected streams in Arkansas, USA, during March, April, and August 2004. Water samples were collected upstream and downstream from the influence of effluent discharges in northwestern Arkansas and at one site on a relatively undeveloped stream in north-central Arkansas. At least one antibiotic, pharmaceutical, or other organic chemical was detected at all sites, except at Spavinaw Creek near Mayesville, Arkansas. The greatest number of detections was observed at Mud Creek downstream from an effluent discharge, including 31 pharmaceuticals and other organic chemicals. The detection of these chemicals occurred in higher frequency at sites downstream from effluent discharges compared to those sites upstream from effluent discharges; total chemical concentration was also greater downstream. Wastewater effluent discharge increased the concentrations of detergent metabolites, fire retardants, fragrances and flavors, and steroids in these streams. Antibiotics and associated degradation products were only found at two streams downstream from effluent discharges. Overall, 42 of the 108 chemicals targeted in this study were found in water samples from at least one site, and the most frequently detected organic chemicals included caffeine, phenol, para-cresol, and acetyl hexamethyl tetrahydro naphthalene (AHTN).     

Effects of Bioengineered Streambank Stabilization on Bank Habitat and Macroinvertebrates in Urban Streams

Non-structural streambank stabilization, or bioengineering, is a common stream restoration practice used to slow streambank erosion, but its ecological effects have rarely been assessed. We surveyed bank habitat and sampled bank macroinvertebrates at four bioengineered sites, an unrestored site, and a comparatively less-impacted reference site in the urban Peachtree-Nancy Creek catchment in Atlanta, GA, USA. The amount of organic bank habitat (wood and roots) was much higher at the reference site and three of the bioengineered sites than at the unrestored site or the other bioengineered site, where a very different bioengineering technique was used (“joint planting”). At all sites, we saw a high abundance of pollution-tolerant taxa, especially chironomids and oligochaetes, and a low richness and diversity of the bank macroinvertebrate community. Total biomass, insect biomass, and non-chironomid insect biomass were highest at the reference site and two of the bioengineered sites (p < 0.05). Higher biomass and abundance were found on organic habitats (wood and roots) versus inorganic habitats (mud, sand, and rock) across all sites. Percent organic bank habitat at each site proved to be strongly positively correlated with many factors, including taxon richness, total biomass, and shredder biomass. These results suggest that bioengineered bank stabilization can have positive effects on bank habitat and macroinvertebrate communities in urban streams, but it cannot completely mitigate the impacts of urbanization.