Risks of sea level rise to disadvantaged communities in the United States

Climate change and sea level rise (SLR) pose risks to coastal communities around the world, but societal understanding of the distributional and equity implications of SLR impacts and adaptation actions remains limited. Here, we apply a new analytic tool to identify geographic areas in the contiguous United States that may be more likely to experience disproportionate impacts of SLR, and to determine if and where socially vulnerable populations would bear disproportionate costs of adaptation. We use the Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) to identify socially vulnerable coastal communities, and combine this with output from a SLR coastal property model that evaluates threats of inundation and the economic efficiency of adaptation approaches to respond to those threats. Results show that under the mid-SLR scenario (66.9 cm by 2100), approximately 1,630,000 people are potentially affected by SLR. Of these, 332,000 (～20%) are among the most socially vulnerable. The analysis also finds that areas of higher social vulnerability are much more likely to be abandoned than protected in response to SLR. This finding is particularly true in the Gulf region of the United States, where over 99% of the most socially vulnerable people live in areas unlikely to be protected from inundation, in stark contrast to the least socially vulnerable group, where only 8% live in areas unlikely to be protected. Our results demonstrate the importance of considering the equity and environmental justice implications of SLR in climate change policy analysis and coastal adaptation planning.     

Empirical Relationships between Observed Ozone Concentrations and Geographical Areas with Concentrations Likely to Be above 120 ppb

The extent to which existing ozone monitoring data can be used to represent concentrations outside the area immediately surrounding a monitoring station is investigated. The results should be of Interest to those who wish to define areas within which standards are likely to have been exceeded. Relationships are established between the observed second-maximum hour-average ozone concentrations and the area within which It is possible to state with reasonable probability that National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) have or have not been exceeded. All pairs of SAROAD stations (Storage and Retrieval of Aerometric Data) separated by 500 km or less which had nearly complete annual data sets were considered for the years 1974 through 1977 to determine the probability that the NAAQS would be exceeded at one station of the pair, given station separation and the observed second-maximum hourly ozone concentration at the other station. The resulting relationship was applied to SAROAD data for 1977, and circles were drawn around each SAROAD monitoring site to show the area within which it is 90% probable that the 120 ppb NAAQS was exceeded during 1977.     

Monitoring Australian Rangeland Sites Using Landscape Function Indicators and Ground- and Remote-Based Techniques

If the goal for managing rangelands is to achieve a balance between production and conservation, then monitoring is essential to detect change and apply corrective action. In some range-land areas of northern Australia, monitoring has detected a tilt in the production-conservation balance towards excessive production. How big is this imbalance? Can it shift back? Robust monitoring is needed to answer these questions. The aim is to know what to monitor, and where. For example, to detect changes caused by livestock on rangeland forage production and soil erosion, indicators linking grazing disturbances to landscape function are needed, that is, indicators that signal how well landscapes are capturing, concentrating, and utilizing scarce water, nutrient, and organic resources. Studies in Australia and the USA document that simple vegetation and soil patch attributes can be measured as indicators of the 'state of health' of landscape function. For example, field and remote sensing-based grazing studies in Australia document that landscapes with a high cover of perennial plant patches function effectively to capture runoff water and nutrients in sediments, whereas landscapes with a low cover of these patches do not — they are dysfunctional — as indicated by large patches of bare soil. Aerial videography is proving to be a robust technique for measuring indicators of landscape function such as small patches of vegetation and the extent of bare soil. These indicators typically have a sigmoidal response to grazing impacts. We illustrate that if these indicators are measured on monitoring sites established near the sigmoidal 'point of inflection’ then small changes in these indicators can be detected.     

Corporate Social Responsibility in Agribusiness: Literature Review and Future Research Directions

Changes in social framework conditions, accelerated by globalization or political inventions, have created new societal demands and requirements on companies. The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is often considered a potential tool for meeting societal demands and criticism as a company voluntarily takes responsibility for society. The spotlight of public attention has only recently come to focus on agribusiness-related aspects of CSR. It is therefore the objective of this paper to provide an overview and a critical examination of the current state of research into CSR in agribusiness from different perspectives. Upon that this paper goals to define CSR special cases in agribusiness and derive implications for further research. CSR in agribusiness is a multi-dimensional and complex concept, which is sensitive to ongoing exchange processes between companies and stakeholders. We conclude with the special position of CSR in agribusiness and that future research should focus on adding value to industry-specific CSR aspects in the general CSR framework borrowed from management literature. Explorative fieldwork such as expert interviews with different stakeholders might be suitable for gaining insights into agribusiness-specific aspects of CSR in firms.     

Appropriate water supply and sanitation technology for developing countries in tropical monsoon climates

Summary In the past, the water supply and sewage services for the urban regions of developing countries have been provided, in the main, only for the more affluent areas of these cities. This paper, dealing especially with those countries with tropical monsoon climates, advocates the construction of more comprehensive systems.Experience drawn from a wide range of projects and a review of the relevant literature provokes the authors to emphasise the need for suitable manuals of appropriate technology for use in these developing countries. These manuals should provide a full set of environmental guidelines for the design of water supply and sewage/sanitation systems for use in these countries.Dr Harvey F. Ludwig is Chairman and Greg Browder is Environmental Engineer for SEATEC International Consulting Engineers, Bangkok, Thailand.     

Umweltindikatoren für Immissionswirkungen

“In contrast to other fields of politics, a few, minor measurements (indicators) are still lacking in the environmental policies which enable one to evaluate the environmental situation and to consequently take over a major role in political discussions” (BMU 1998). There are a multitude of suggestions for such environmental indicators on both a national and an international level. To date, however, there are still no indicators through which the ecological effects of biosphere pollution can be evaluated. This work provides two examples how biomonitoring data can be connected to environmental indicators. Based on the background concentrations of a multitude of heavy metals and dioxins/furans in two individual bioindicators (standardized grass and kale cultures), which have been combined to act as indicators for the topic in question, indices have been calculated through the determination of reference values. The results are indicators for the pollution effects of traffic-related emissions, the pollution effects from the emissions of fossil fuels and the pollution effects of dioxins and furanes. These indicators may still be combined further through the methods of calculation which are described. The further, methodical development of bioindicators, however, turned out to be problematic. Only data whose survey methods have been standardized to such an extent that the results are comparable with each other over longer periods of time can be combined to represent indicators: an inalienable requirement for the presentation of trends.     

Zur Geschichte des Umweltbegriffs

Historically, the biological concept of living organisms from the early 19th century was a precondition for the evolution of the modern concept of the environment. The connection with the hermeneutic concept of the environment qua “landscape” was made through A. v. Humboldt's “physiognomy of plants” and the geographical sciences. At the turn of the 20th century, ecology was established as the “science of communities”. These are primarily considered to have formed through the adaptation of organisms to one another, and, therefore, to an inner environment of a superordinate system.