River flood risk and adaptation in Europe—assessment of the present status

Flood disasters have had a devastating effect worldwide over the past century, both in terms of human suffering and material losses. The study of these events and development of more effective adaptation and mitigation policies has become a priority, both in Europe and other parts of the globe. This paper detects and presents the spatial distribution of river flood risks in Europe. The methodology we developed involves an assessment of three key risk components: exposure, vulnerability and hazard. A topography-based flood hazard map of Europe, identifying low-lying areas adjacent to rivers, is presented and used to identify risk, together with land-use data and damage-stage relationship for different land uses. The study covers river flood risk for the entire European continent. This methodology can be used to determine the level of future risk, using the estimations on Hazard, Exposure and Vulnerability from specific climate and economic development models. Annual average flood damage is estimated for European regions, in absolute monetary terms and in % of regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The results highlight regions where the threat to the economy from river flood hazard is of major concern.     

Bio-energy supply chains and stakeholders

What are the management challenges and opportunities of bio-energy chains for both running their business efficiently and effectively and fostering the relationships with most relevant external stakeholders? This question is approached by systematically reviewing papers at the interface of bio-energy and supply chain or logistics issues. The review conducted as content analysis is based on an analytic framework that conceives bio-energy chains between challenges and benefits of bio-energy production with simultaneous internal supply chain management and external stakeholder management needs. Smartly designed and operated bio-energy projects hold promising potentials of contributing to sustainable development by both mitigating climate change and strengthening adaptation capabilities. Our analysis distils specific strategies and success factors for tapping this potential on two levels: On a supply chain level, individually adapted and designed supply chain systems relying on trustful information exchange, cooperation and relational governance safeguard profitability while holding adverse ecological and social impacts of operation down; they allow, for instance, minimising costs and emissions, implementing new technologies, and coping with environmental uncertainties such as crop failures and volatile prices. On a stakeholder level, governments as key actors for designing the future legal framework of bio-energy are primary targets for lobbying activities of bio-energy representatives. Respective arguments may focus on economic development and job generation. By minimising its adverse impacts on society and eco-systems and by communicating these efforts credibly, bio-energy warrants its superiority over fossil energy systems. Involving NGOs and residents in early stages of bio-energy projects via transparent two-way communication considerably increase societal acceptance.     

The potential of spatial information in human biomonitoring by example of two German environmental epidemiology studies

This study aimed at statistically investigating the association between the internal exposure of children and young adults to uranium (U) and epidemiologically relevant external determinants of exposure. The investigation was performed with data from two studies within the framework of the German health-related environmental monitoring program: The German Environmental Survey for Children (GerES IV) conducted by the Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt) with data on 1,780 children 3–14 years of age and their home environment and the German Environmental Specimen Bank (ESB, section: human specimens) with data on 2,253 students 20–29 years of age. Both studies provided data on the U levels in human urine for all probands. GerES IV furthermore provided an extensive environmental and demographic database on, e.g., U levels in drinking water. The data from GerES IV and ESB were linked by GIS to spatially relevant exposure information, including background values of U in stream sediments and in upper and lower soils, U levels in mosses and particulate matter in the lower atmosphere, precipitation and elevation as well as forest density. Bivariate correlation analysis and two decision tree models showed moderate but significant associations between U in human urine and U levels in drinking water, stream sediments and upper and lower soils. Future investigations considering additional epidemiologically relevant data sets may differentiate the results. Furthermore, the sample design of future environmental epidemiology studies should take the spatial evaluation of the data into greater account.     

The relationship between mining and socio-economic well being in Australia’s regions

This paper examines the relationship between quality of life indicators and the gross value of minerals production from Australian regions. We used quality of life indicators, aggregated for 71 local government areas containing mining activities, of household income, housing affordability, access to communication services, educational attainment, life expectancy, and unemployment. We find no evidence of systematic negative associations between quality of life and the gross value of minerals production. Instead, mining activity has a positive impact on incomes, housing affordability, communication access, education and employment across regional and remote Australia. Whilst we do not establish causality between mining activity and quality of life, our analysis prompts a rethink of the resource curse as it applies within a single country. We did not find evidence of a resource curse, at the local government level, in Australia’s mining regions. Nevertheless, we note observations by many other researchers of negative social impacts on specific demographic sectors, localities, families of fly-in fly-out mining operations, and individuals. This contrast may be a scale issue, with the regional benefits of mineral wealth masking highly localised inequalities and disadvantage. We suggest that there is a need to better understand these impacts and, more importantly, the types of policy mechanisms government and industry can adopt to mitigate or avoid them.     

A comprehensive set of resource use indicators from the micro to the macro level

Many of today's most urgent environmental problems arise from increasing volumes of worldwide production and consumption and the associated use of natural resources, including renewable and non-renewable raw materials, energy, water and land. Solid indicators to measure different dimensions of anthropogenic resource use are essential for designing appropriate policy measures for a sustainable management of these resources. Based on a brief review of the current state of the art of resource use indicators, this paper suggests a new set of complementary resource use indicators, combining existing measures for resource use. The suggested indicator set covers the core resource input categories of materials, water and land area and includes the output category of greenhouse gas emissions. This set can be applied consistently from the micro level of products and companies up to the macro level of countries and world regions. All suggested indicators take a life-cycle wide perspective on production and consumption activities. This set of indicators deals with the issue of the overall scale of the human production and consumption system. It can be regarded as the general indicator framework, based on which more specific indicators, for example, on different environmental impacts related to natural resource use, can be calculated.     

Sperm competition risk affects male mate choice copying

Mate choice copying was mostly described as a strategy employed by females to assess the quality of potential mates, but also males can copy other males’ mate choice. An open question in this context is whether and how copying males evaluate sperm competition risk, as mating with a female that has already copulated with another male obviously sets the stage for intense sperm competition (i.e., in species with internal fertilization). Using the livebearing Atlantic molly (Poecilia mexicana) as a model, we asked (a) whether males of that species indeed copy other males’ choices, and if they do so, (b) whether copying males strategically adjust their behavior to sperm competition risk. We used an approach where focal males could first choose to associate with a large or a small stimulus female. Mate choice tests were then repeated after an “observation phase” during which either no model male was present (treatment 1, control) or the previously non-preferred female could be seen associating (treatment 2) or physically interacting (treatment 3) with a model male. We found that, after the observation phase, males spent considerably more time with the previously non-preferred female in treatment (2), i.e., they copied the model male’s choice. This effect was much weaker during treatment (3) where sexual interactions between the model male and the formerly non-preferred female were allowed. Males, therefore, seem to adjust their copying behavior strategically to the perceived risk of sperm competition.     

Water management from tradition to second modernity: an analysis of the water crisis in Iran

This article reflects on the fundamentals of first and second modernity and its usefulness and practicability for problem formulation and solving in the context of water management practices in Iran. It is argued that the current water crisis in Iran resulted from modernization based on first modernity paradigms, and second modernity concepts are used to present a framework for new water management approaches. Based on the concept of sub-political arrangements, we suggest that water management issues can be treated best in process-based ways under a reflexive modernity point of view.