Comparative analysis using EIA for developed and developing countries: case studies of hydroelectric power plants in Pakistan,Norway and Sweden

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is an important legislative and scientific tool that may assist and improve the quality assistance for the decision-making process in sustainable development. Here, a comparison of EIAs from three cases of hydropower projects in Pakistan, Norway and Sweden is reported. A huge difference concerning the incorporation of environmental considerations into the decisionmaking process between developed and developing countries is observed. The EIA system of Pakistan appears to be less efficient in the application and review process. In addition, the appraisal of issues, the decision-making process and evaluation through post-monitoring is not as well performed in Pakistan as in cases of hydroelectric power plants in Sweden and Norway. The key reason for this shortcoming is misconceptions about the EIA process, which initially receives intense attention but becomes weakened by the time of implementation. This implies that there is a need to adopt simplified and flexible EIA techniques suitable for the infrastructure and resources of a specific country, taking into account institutional, technical and financial constraints. Improvements are required in public participation, awareness, as well as in environmental control and data system sectors in Pakistan, besides simply enacting legislation to achieve the goals of the EIA system.     

Is there really a green paradox?

In the absence of a CO₂ tax, the anticipation of a cheaper renewable backstop increases current emissions of CO₂. Since the date at which renewables are phased in is brought forward and more generally future emissions of CO₂ will decrease, the effect on global warming is unclear. Green welfare falls if the backstop is relatively expensive and full exhaustion of fossil fuels is optimal, but may increase if the backstop is sufficiently cheap relative to the cost of extracting the last drop of fossil fuels plus marginal global warming damages as then it is attractive to leave more fossil fuels unexploited and thus limit CO₂ emissions. We establish these results by analyzing depletion of non-renewable fossil fuels followed by a switch to a clean renewable backstop, paying attention to timing of the switch and the amount of fossil fuels remaining unexploited. We also discuss the potential for limit pricing when the non-renewable resource is owned by a monopolist. Finally, we show that if backstops are already used and more backstops become economically viable as the price of fossil fuels rises, a lower cost of the backstop will either postpone fossil fuel exhaustion or leave more fossil fuel in situ, thus boosting green welfare. However, if a market economy does not internalize global warming externalities and renewables have not kicked in yet, full exhaustion of fossil fuel will occur in finite time and a backstop subsidy always curbs green welfare.     

Male reproductive investment relative to age and flight behaviour in the monandrous butterfly Pararge aegeria

Male reproductive investment may signify a considerable cost to male insects that produce sperm packages or spermatophores. Male butterflies allocate much of their active time budget to mate location, and they may adopt different behavioural strategies to do so. In the speckled wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria L.), males adopt either a territorial wait-and-fight strategy (territorial perching) or a fly-and-search strategy in wider areas (patrolling). In this study, we analysed the impact of male age, male size and male behaviour (i.e. behavioural strategies and levels of activity) on spermatophore investment (i.e. spermatophore mass, number of eupyrene sperm bundles). As predicted, reproductive investment increased with male age and size. Nevertheless, the increase of spermatophore mass with age and the number of eupyrene sperm bundles (i.e. fertile sperm) was stronger in low-activity males compared to active flying males. This suggests that flight activity has a negative impact on male reproductive investment. However, males that were forced to fly in the laboratory produced more eupyrene sperm bundles than resting males. We discuss the potential effects of male–male competition and predation risk on current versus future male reproduction. Males adopting different mate-locating strategies (perching and patrolling) in outdoor cages did not differ in spermatophore traits as was predicted from their very different flight performances. Copulations of territorial perching males took somewhat longer than copulations with non-perching males. There was a significant family effect of spermatophore size and of the expression of male mate-locating strategies suggesting heritable variation. Female traits (i.e. age and size) did not strongly affect spermatophore production. We discuss the results relative to both ultimate and proximate explanations of the complex relationships between butterfly activity, behavioural strategies, age and spermatophore production.     

On the fine structure of the thermal bar front

The thermal bar—a hydrodynamic phenomenon, arising in natural basins due to successive changes of the water temperature across the temperature of maximum density (T_m, which is close to 4°C)—has been studied in laboratory experiments and by numerical simulations. The experiments were performed in a rectangular tank with an inclined bottom, filled with water with initial temperature T₀ < T_m and then heated at the surface. During the heating a basin-wide circulation develops, consisting of down-slope cascades in regions where T < T_m, a subsurface off-shore jet in the region where T > T_m, and a compensating flow at intermediate depths towards the shallow part of the tank, supplying both off-shore flows with waters from deeper regions. Analysis of the water temperature and density fields as well as the currents has revealed that the location of the convergence zone of the surface current (when formed) does not coincide with that of the Tm-isotherm. The thermal bar front is typically understood as a convergence zone near the 4°C-isotherm, formed due to the effect of cabbeling. Our experiments demonstrate, however, that the front is associated with the leading edge of the subsurface current. The increasing distance between the 4°C-isotherm and the subsurface jet has been recorded in the laboratory experiments. Numerical simulation results corroborate the laboratory experiments. A scaling analysis predicts the speed of propagation of this frontal zone to be U ~ [g × Δρ/ρ × H]^1/2, where H is the depth (increasing with time) of the upper thermo-active layer, ρ₀ a reference density, and Δρ is the characteristic horizontal density difference across the front. A combined analysis of laboratory, field and numerical data has corroborated this law.     

Isotopic fractionation between seawater and the shell of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Scrobicularia plana</Emphasis> (Bivalvia) and its application for age validation

This study analyzed the isotopic profiles of four aragonitic shells of Scrobicularia plana in conjunction with measured seawater temperatures and salinities. Comparison of δ¹⁸O_SHELL with expected values revealed fractionation of δ¹⁸O in near equilibrium with the ambient environment. Growth cessation occurred between November and March. Carbonate deposition stopped when temperatures were <12°C. Analysis of δ¹³C_SHELL values suggested that carbon in the shell does not reflect the DIC in ambient water, likely due to the incorporation of metabolic carbon. An ontogenetic trend of increasing δ¹³C values over time was observed, likely related to changes in metabolic activity. Annual growth patterns were inferred from δ¹⁸O_SHELL profiles and compared with internal and external growth lines. Estimations of age based on external lines were unreliable, resulting in overestimation of age and underestimation of growth rates, likely due to the disturbance lines being wrongly identified as annual. Analysis of internal lines may lead to over- or underestimation of age and was more reliable in recent portions of the shell.     

Vergleich der Raumgliederung Europas mit bestehenden Raumgliederungen – Teil 3

Background, aim and scope The first two articles of this series (Hornsmann et al. 2008; Weustermann et al. 2009) comprised how the Ecological Land Classification of Europe (ELCE) was calculated. Moreover several ecological classes were described exemplarily. In this part 3 of the series the ELCE is compared with two European ecoregionalisations at several levels of differentiation. These are the Digital Map of European ecological regions (DMEER) and the Environmental Stratification of Europe (EnS). In addition the ELCE was opposed to the ecoregionalisation of Germany. The alignment was carried out both functionally and statistically and served as a basis for the examination of the functional consistency of the ELCE. Materials and methods The ecological land classifications were described concerning their input data, the method of derivation and the intended use. The ELCE and the selected three ecoregionalisations were intersected in a GIS and crosstabulated with regard to the acreage of each polygon. These cross tabulations were performed by listing the percentage of ecoregions of e.?g. DMEER to the ecological classes of the ELCE (EC) and vice versa. The similarity of the compared ecoregions was estimated by means of statistics. Results The comparisons show high rates of similarity of the ELCE to the European land classifications. The mean overlap of the EC with the classes of the DMEER is 84 and 69?% vice versa. The EC are covered by the strata of the EnS with 67 and 72?%, respectively. In Germany, ELCE reflects the most important ecological conditions. The mean overlap of the ecoregions in this case is 75 and 80?% vice versa. Discussion The classes of the DMEER show a better overlap of the EC as vice versa due to their larger spatial extent. The main difference between the ELCE and the EnS is based on the procedure of the derivation of the regionalisations. While the classes of the EnS are more differentiated in the South of Europe, the ecoregions of ELCE are smaller and more subdivided in the middle of Europe. The high overlap between the ELCE and the ecoregionalisation of Germany can be indicative for the good account of the ecological structures of the ELCE in the European dimension. Conclusions The ELCE is functionally plausible and a useful complement to the existing land classifications of Europe. Nevertheless, it cannot substitute land classifications on the national level calculated with more detailed input data. The ELCE can be used testing the representativity of environmental monitoring networks in Europe. Recommendations In future, the ELCE should be compared with other national landscape classifications. A new calculation of ELCE would only be useful after the development of a highly powerful derivation method and on the basis of more detailed input data. Moreover, due to the observed climate change in the past 20 years, up-to-date data on climate should be used for the calculations. Perspectives The ELCE could be proven to be functionally consistent. Therefore the fourth article will focus on the investigation of the landscape representativity of environmental monitoring networks on the basis of the ELCE.     

Hele-Shaw beach creation by breaking waves: a mathematics-inspired experiment

Fundamentals of nonlinear wave-particle interactions are studied experimentally in a Hele-Shaw configuration with wave breaking and a dynamic bed. To design this configuration, we determine, mathematically, the gap width which allows inertial flows to survive the viscous damping due to the side walls. Damped wave sloshing experiments compared with simulations confirm that width-averaged potential-flow models with linear momentum damping are adequately capturing the large scale nonlinear wave motion. Subsequently, we show that the four types of wave breaking observed at real-world beaches also emerge on Hele-Shaw laboratory beaches, albeit in idealized forms. Finally, an experimental parameter study is undertaken to quantify the formation of quasi-steady beach morphologies due to nonlinear, breaking waves: berm or dune, beach and bar formation are all classified. Our research reveals that the Hele-Shaw beach configuration allows a wealth of experimental and modelling extensions, including benchmarking of forecast models used in the coastal engineering practice, especially for shingle beaches.     

Residues of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in aquatic environment and risk assessment along Shaying River,China

Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are pesticides with global scale ubiquity, persistence and bioaccumulation, which leave long-term residuals in the water body. OCPs’ high toxicity poses significant threats to human health and aquatic biodiversity, making assessment of OCPs’ impact on aquatic ecology and human health urgently necessary. In this research, the presence of 16 OCPs in surface water and groundwater along Shaying River, China, as well as OCPs concentration correlations, was investigated at 24 selected sampling sites. At the same time, the ecological risk and human carcinogenic risk were also analyzed by risk quotient method and USEPA’s Risk Assessment Guidance, respectively. Results showed that the total concentration of OCPs ranged from 21.0 to 61.4 ng L^?1 in groundwater, and 12.3–77.5 ng L^?1 in surface water. Hexachlorocyclohexane (HCHs) and heptachlor were the prominent contaminants in groundwater, which indicated their use in the recent past and confirmed their persistence. The α-HCH/γ-HCH ratios in groundwater confirmed that γ-HCH (lindane) was used as main substitute of technical HCH in the study area. The correlation analysis illustrated that δ-HCH and γ-HCH played a dominant role in HCHs residue. Heptachlor and α-HCH, as well as endosulfan and heptachlor epoxide, had a strongly significant positive correlation, suggesting an associated usage of the two pair OCPs. An extremely high ecological risk for aquatic organism was observed for γ-HCH, heptachlor and dieldrin, while the carcinogenic risks posed by the selected OCPs in surface water and groundwater were all acceptable.