Environmental Auditing and the Role of the Accountancy Profession: A Literature Review

This review of the literature on environmental auditing and the potential role of accountants distinguishes between compliance audits and audits of the environmental management system. After an extensive introduction to the concept, this review focuses on the similarities and differences between an environmental audit and a financial statement audit. The general approach to both types of audits is similar, except that environmental audits are largely unregulated. Both audits place an emphasis on the evaluation of control systems, which is an argument in favor of external auditors playing a role in environmental audits. Another argument for including external accountants is their code of ethics. However, these professionals seem to be reluctant to enter the field of environmental auditing. It is argued that this reluctance is because of a lack of generally accepted principles for conducting environmental audits. If external accountants are engaged in environmental auditing, they should be part of multidisciplinary teams that also include scientists and engineers to avoid a too strong focus on procedures. Rather than treating these audits as totally different, it is proposed that there be a move towards integrated, or even universal, audits.     

Economic Failures in French Recreational Fishing Management

In France, freshwater recreational fishing management does not sufficiently satisfy anglers. Fishing effort is too high creating congestion costs and environmental quality is low while there is a positive willingness-to-pay for improvements. These inefficiencies are explained by three phenomena. First, private property rights are attenuated under institutional pressure. Second, recreational fishing is managed as an open access resource over the whole territory. Finally, halieutic policies focus on the protection of environmental resources and are inefficient at maximizing the social rent provided by recreational fisheries. Fishing effort regulation and environmental services provision following the beneficiary-pays principle could improve collective welfare. Social pricing could ensure equity in access to the resource.     

Bedload transport and bedforms migration under sand supply limitation

Environmental Fluid Mechanics - Most studies on sediment transport and bedforms migration consider unlimited sediment supply conditions. However, areas where the sediment supply is limited are...     

Level of environmental threat posed by horticultural trade in Cactaceae

Ornamental horticulture has been identified as an important threat to plant biodiversity and is a major pathway for plant invasions worldwide. In this context, the family Cactaceae is particularly challenging because it is considered the fifth most threatened large taxonomic group in the world; several species are among the most widespread and damaging invasive species; and Cactaceae is one of the most popular horticultural plant groups. Based on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna and the 11 largest online auction sites selling cacti, we documented the international cactus trade. To provide an in‐depth look at the dynamics of the industry, we surveyed the businesses involved in the cactus trade in South Africa (a hotspot of cactus trade and invasions). We purchased seeds of every available species and used DNA barcoding to identify species to the genus level. Although <20% of this trade involved threatened species and <3% involved known invasive species, many species were identified by a common name. However, only 0.02% of the globally traded cacti were collected from wild populations. Despite a large commercial network, all South African imports (of which 15% and 1.5% were of species listed as threatened and invasive, respectively) came from the same source. With DNA barcoding, we identified 24% of the species to genus level. Based on our results, we believe that if trade restrictions are placed on the small proportion of cacti that are invasive and there is no major increase in harvesting of native populations, then the commercial trade in cactus poses a negligible environmental threat. However, there are currently no effective methods for easily identifying which cacti are traded, and both the illicit harvesting of cacti from the wild and the informal trade in invasive taxa pose on‐going conservation challenges.     

Soil C and N models that integrate microbial diversity

Industrial agriculture is yearly responsible for the loss of 55–100 Pg of historical soil carbon and 9.9 Tg of reactive nitrogen worldwide. Therefore, management practices should be adapted to preserve ecological processes and reduce inputs and environmental impacts. In particular, the management of soil organic matter (SOM) is a key factor influencing C and N cycles. Soil microorganisms play a central role in SOM dynamics. For instance, microbial diversity may explain up to 77 % of carbon mineralisation activities. However, soil microbial diversity is actually rarely taken into account in models of C and N dynamics. Here, we review the influence of microbial diversity on C and N dynamics, and the integration of microbial diversity in soil C and N models. We found that a gain of microbial richness and evenness enhances soil C and N dynamics on the average, though the improvement of C and N dynamics depends on the composition of microbial community. We reviewed 50 models integrating soil microbial diversity. More than 90 % of models integrate microbial diversity with discrete compartments representing conceptual functional groups (64 %) or identified taxonomic groups interacting in a food web (28 %). Half of the models have not been tested against an empirical dataset while the other half mainly consider fixed parameters. This is due to the difficulty to link taxonomic and functional diversity.     

Academic expertise in assisting private companies in the fields of environment and environmental toxicology: the role of individual expertise

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The scientific knowledge produced by academic research can be valued in all sectors of human activity, including private sector. The ROVALTAIN...     

利用废旧锌锰电池制备光催化剂净化甲苯

针对废旧锌锰电池回收利用难,以及光催化剂 TiO2活性低的问题,以废旧锌锰电池和商业二氧化钛为原料,通过球磨法制备了新型复合光催化剂.在紫外光灯照射下,进行了废旧锌锰电池复合改性TiO2对甲苯的光催化氧化实验,并重点探究空速、光照强度、相对湿度和氧气体积分数等关键实验条件对甲苯净化效率的影响.结果表明,改性后的催化剂对甲苯的净化能力大幅提高;当TiO2与废电池芯粉的质量比为2:1时,催化剂的催化效果最好,甲苯的净化效率提高了近45％;空速越大,催化剂对甲苯的净化效率越低;净化效率随光照强度的增加呈现先增加后保持不变的规律;催化剂在相对湿度为30％的条件下具有最佳的催化活性,氧气体积分数为15％时为净化效率达到最大.本研究结果可为废旧锌锰电池的回收利用提供新的思路.     

燃煤电厂烟塔合一排烟风洞试验与数值模拟对比分析

近年来,燃煤电厂烟塔合一烟气排烟对近距离环境影响的不确定性,使其在国内的推广过程受到一定限制。准确判断烟塔合一排烟的环境影响,对于我国现有燃煤电厂烟气污染物的排放有着巨大的工程价值和明显的现实意义。利用国家环境保护某重点实验室中风洞试验平台,对燃煤电厂烟塔合一烟气污染物在近距离的扩散和传输行为,进行物理风洞试验以及数值模拟计算,并进行对比分析。结果表明:德国Austal2000模式的浓度预测并不精确;数值风洞也有其差异性,而物理风洞的结果在很大程度上符合现有的理论及国内工程实际。     

Arsenic biotransformation and an arsenite S-adenosylmethionine methyltransferase in plankton

<正>Arsenic(As)is a well-recognized toxicant and carcinogen.Chronic exposure to inorganic arsenic causes a range of human cancers(e.g.,skin,bladder,and lung)and increases the risk of developing diabetes,hypertension,and cardiovascular and neurological diseases.The prevalence of arsenic species and the severity of their health effects continue to drive and demand for extensive research(Carlin et al.,2016).     

紫外分光光度法测定海水中石油类的不确定度评定

对紫外分光光度法测定海水中石油类浓度进行了不确定度评定。通过对标准溶液、标准工作曲线拟合、前处理过程等影响测定结果的不确定度分量进行分析,计算出测定结果的扩展不确定度,并找出影响该不确定度的主要因素。结果表明,紫外分光光度法测定海水中石油类浓度的不确定度的主要来源是实验中前处理过程的不确定度,本次实验所测海水中石油类浓度的不确定度报告为19.98±1.326 mg/L。