Sustainable development in the Baltic sea region. Governance beyond the nation state

After the end of the Cold War, the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) developed into a highly dynamic area of cross-border cooperation and transnational networking. Three forms of governance beyond the nation state and appropriate case studies are presented here: (1) the Helsinki Convention as an international regime; (2) Baltic 21, the world's first regional Agenda 21, as an international policy network; (3) the Union of the Baltic Cities (UBC) as a transnational network. The achievement of sustainable development in the BSR undoubtedly requires a fruitful combination of national governance and these forms of international and transnational governance. In this respect, international policy networks, such as Baltic 21, and transnational networks, such as the UBC, promise to provide new approaches that can complement international and intergovernmental cooperation between nation states. Furthermore, it must also be taken into account that governance in the BSR will soon become embedded in European governance and lead to the Europeanisation of the Baltic Sea Area.     

Linkages between best practice in business and good environmental performance by companies

Is the adoption of currently accepted best practice in business associated with improved environmental performance by companies? What methods can be used to assess and compare the environmental practices and performance of different companies? In this pilot study, the business and environmental practices and performances of five companies in the metal working sector were examined and scored. The business practices and performances were assessed using the best practice model adopted in the Australian Manufacturers Council study (AMC, November 1994, Melbourne, 112pp.). The environmental practices and performance of the companies were assessed based on a five stage framework of business response to environmental issues presented here. A strong correlation was observed between environmental performance and business practices (correlation coefficient, r = 0.85, p < 0.05). The company closest to best practice had a strong focus on quality, efficiency and elimination of waste, well-developed strategy, good teamwork and a high level of commitment and also had the highest score for environmental performance. The company with poorest score for its business practices had the poorest environmental performance, with the remaining companies lying between on both scores. There was no significant correlation between business performance outcomes and environmental performance.     

Biological reduction of perchlorate in ion exchange regenerant solutions containing high salinity and ammonium levels

The most promising technologies to remove perchlorate from water are ion exchange and biological reduction. Although successful, ion exchange only separates perchlorate from water; it does not eliminate it from the environment. The waste streams from these systems contain the caustic or saline regenerant solutions used in the process as well as high levels of perchlorate. Biological reduction could be used to treat the regenerant waste solutions from the ion exchange process. A treatment scheme, combining ion exchange and biodegradation, is proposed to completely remove perchlorate from the environment. Perchlorate-laden resins generate brines containing salt concentrations up to 6% or caustic solutions containing up to 0.5% ammonium. Both, high salt and ammonium hydroxide concentrations are potentially toxic to microorganisms. Therefore, the challenge of the proposed system is to find perchlorate reducing microorganisms that are effective under such stressful conditions. Preliminary results have shown that salt concentrations as low as 0.5% reduced the perchlorate biodegradation rate by 30%; salt concentrations greater than 1% decreased this rate to 40%. Although biodegradation was seen in ammonium levels of 0.4%, 0.6% and 1%, the perchlorate biodegradation rate was 90% of that at 0% ammonium hydroxide. Further research will focus on the isolation and/or acclimation of microorganisms that are able to biodegrade perchlorate under these stressful conditions.     

Conflict resolution by participatory management: remote sensing and GIS as tools for communicating land-use needs for reindeer herding in northern Sweden

When seeking to resolve complex land-management issues, geographical assessment of resources that are in short supply or in dispute can aid the communication of knowledge and the understanding among and between different stakeholders. In this paper, we illustrate how remote sensing and GIS can be used to gather and compile information regarding land-use activities and patterns among reindeer herders and other land users (forestry, mining, tourism, etc) in northern Sweden. The project represents a novel user-oriented effort largely based on the work carried out by the principal end user, i.e. the reindeer herders themselves. The basis for development of land-use plans for reindeer husbandry, was the following: to collect and digitally systemize traditional ecological and landscape knowledge of reindeer habitat use; to integrate this information with results from field inventories and satellite-based vegetation classifications; to map activities of other land users. The resulting land-use plans provide information that can facilitate consultation between the reindeer herders and other stakeholders and can facilitate operational work in reindeer management. This project can serve as a model for participatory involvement and planning, bringing indigenous knowledge and advanced remote-sensing techniques together in an interactive process.     

An economic and environmental framework for analyzing globally sourced auto parts packaging system

Competitive forces are driving US domestic manufacturers to source parts globally, which significantly extends their supply chain and introduces new sustainability concerns. This paper addresses the situation from an operating division manager's perspective. We present an approach to packaging system assessment which considers the division manager's span of control, addresses the design of packaging and the corresponding logistics processes, and incorporates both cost and environmental impacts. A construct familiar to operations managers, the value stream map, is adapted to model material flow of both parts and packages, and an integrated material flow analysis is used as the common basis for cost analysis, a modified life cycle environmental impact analysis, and an energy consumption analysis. The framework is illustrated using a case study of a major US automaker.     

Increasing nitrogen limitation in the Bothnian Sea,potentially caused by inflow of phosphate-rich water from the Baltic Proper

The study showed that the open water of the Bothnian Sea (BS) is likely to have shifted from altering nitrogen and phosphorous limitations of the spring bloom to more nitrogen-limited conditions during the last 20 years. This is affected by the by inflow of phosphate-rich and oxygen-depleted water from depths near the halocline in the northern Baltic Proper, where severe oxygen conditions currently cause extreme phosphate concentrations in the deep water. The change in relation between inorganic nitrogen and phosphorous in the BS occurs first in the deep water and then progresses to the surface water. The change can potentially cause increased production in the BS and more frequent cyanobacterial blooms. There does not appear to be any immediate concern in the short-term perspective for the state of the BS, but a progression of the processes may lead to a more eutrophic state of the BS.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-015-0675-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Soil intervention as a strategy for lead exposure prevention: the New Orleans lead-safe childcare playground project

The feasibility of reducing children's exposure to lead (Pb) polluted soil in New Orleans is tested. Childcare centers (median = 48 children) are often located in former residences. The extent of soil Pb was determined by selecting centers in both the core and outlying areas. The initial 558 mg/kg median soil Pb (range 14-3692 mg/kg) decreased to median 4.1 mg/kg (range 2.2-26.1 mg/kg) after intervention with geotextile covered by 15 cm of river alluvium. Pb loading decreased from a median of 4887 μg/m(2) (454 μg/ft(2)) range 603-56650 μg/m(2) (56-5263 μg/ft(2)) to a median of 398 μg/m(2) (37 μg/ft(2)) range 86-980 μg/m(2) (8-91 μg/ft(2)). Multi-Response Permutation Procedures indicate similar (P-values = 0.160-0.231) soil Pb at childcare centers compared to soil Pb of nearby residential communities. At ～$100 per child, soil Pb and surface loading were reduced within hours, advancing an upstream intervention conceptualization about Pb exposure prevention.     

Prediction of methanol loss in vapor phase during gas hydrate inhibition using Arrhenius-type functions

Gas hydrate formation in natural gas and NGL systems can block pipelines, equipment, and instruments, restricting or interrupting flow leading to safety hazards to production/transportation systems and to substantial economic risks. The amount of hydrate inhibitor to be injected not only must be sufficient to prevent freezing of the inhibitor water phase, but also must be sufficient to provide for the equilibrium vapor phase content of the inhibitor. The vapor pressure of methanol must be high enough so that significant quantities will vaporize. Therefore to estimate methanol vaporization losses, it is necessary to develop a new predictive tool. In this work, a simple correlation, which is a mathematically compact and reasonably accurate equation containing few tuned coefficients, is presented here for the prediction of methanol vaporization loss and vapor pressures of aqueous methanol solutions as a function of temperature and methanol mass fraction in aqueous solutions using a novel and theoretically meaningful Arrhenius-type asymptotic exponential function and Vandermonde matrix. The proposed correlation predicts the vapor pressures of aqueous methanol solutions for temperatures up to 100 °C and methanol vaporization loss for temperature between ?16 and 16 °C. Estimations are found to be in excellent agreement with the reliable data in the literature where the average absolute deviation from data is less than 1.5%. The tool developed in this study can be of immense practical value for the engineers and scientists to have a quick check on the methanol vaporization loss and vapor pressures of aqueous methanol solutions at various conditions without opting for any experimental measurements. In particular, chemical and process engineers would find the approach to be user-friendly with transparent calculations involving no complex expressions.