An adapted companion modelling approach for enhancing multi-stakeholder cooperation in complex river basins

The sustainable development agenda 2030 calls for achievement of certain targets to ensure access to water and sanitation for all. Multi-stakeholder partnerships and the use of data and modelling tools are conditioning elements for their achievement. In this article, we demonstrate that participatory modelling supports informed and participatory decision making in complex river basins. An adapted companion modelling approach is presented to support collective action by reducing disputes and enhancing collaboration among stakeholders. The co-development and use of empirical models for understanding the complexity of the physical system is combined with the use of role-playing games to ensure the active involvement of stakeholders. The approach is implemented in a top-down water quality planning process in Turkey. Results show its suitability for managing water quality in complex river basins in an inclusive manner and its substantial benefits in developing stakeholders’ capacities and creating a cooperative environment.     

Adaptive Comanagement for Building Resilience in Social–Ecological Systems

Ecosystems are complex adaptive systems that require flexible governance with the ability to respond to environmental feedback. We present, through examples from Sweden and Canada, the development of adaptive comanagement systems, showing how local groups self-organize, learn, and actively adapt to and shape change with social networks that connect institutions and organizations across levels and scales and that facilitate information flows. The development took place through a sequence of responses to environmental events that widened the scope of local management from a particular issue or resource to a broad set of issues related to ecosystem processes across scales and from individual actors, to group of actors to multiple-actor processes. The results suggest that the institutional and organizational landscapes should be approached as carefully as the ecological in order to clarify features that contribute to the resilience of social–ecological systems. These include the following: vision, leadership, and trust; enabling legislation that creates social space for ecosystem management; funds for responding to environmental change and for remedial action; capacity for monitoring and responding to environmental feedback; information flow through social networks; the combination of various sources of information and knowledge; and sense-making and arenas of collaborative learning for ecosystem management. We propose that the self-organizing process of adaptive comanagement development, facilitated by rules and incentives of higher levels, has the potential to expand desirable stability domains of a region and make social–ecological systems more robust to change.Published online     

Whose marginalisation? Politics around environmental injustices in India's Chilika lagoon

The article examines marginalisation in small-scale fishing communities in a large lagoon system. It explores what marginalisation looks like from the fishers' point of view, and examines the extreme discrepancy between the official government account of the lagoon's resources, and the fishers' account. We analyse two major drivers of marginalisation: (1) role of aquaculture development in the loss of resource access rights and decline of local institutions, and (2) ecological displacement and livelihood loss brought about by the opening of a new (2001) “sea mouth”. We consider evidence collected through household- and village-level surveys combined with a host of qualitative and quantitative research methods. The fishers' point of view, and the data obtained using this point of view as a guide, presents a more complex, multidimensional concept of marginalisation, not simply as a state of being but as a process over time, impacting social and economic conditions, political standing, and environmental health.     

Caring for country through participatory art: creating a boundary object for communicating Indigenous knowledge and values

The trend towards the inclusion of diverse groups in environmental decision-making has led to the need to explore new forms of communication to engage communities in expressing their values and aspirations. Participatory art as an emergent methodology was explored with Traditional Owner groups involved in policy development through the Girringun Aboriginal Corporation in northern Queensland, Australia. The works began with a moderated focus group exploring the theme What does caring for country mean to you? Participants then worked collaboratively on one canvas over some six weeks. Individual expressions were discussed with participants during and following their creation. Themes emerging from the focus group and painting workshop included those related to culture, well-being, environment, politics, and holism, which was central to the discussions. The common thread of the work was that people need to interact with country in order to care for country.     

Para-chlorophenol containing synthetic wastewater treatment in an activated sludge unit: effects of hydraulic residence time

Due to the toxic nature of chlorophenol compounds present in some chemical industry effluents, biological treatment of such wastewaters is usually realized with low treatment efficiencies. Para-chlorophenol (4-chlorophenol, 4-CP) containing synthetic wastewater was treated in an activated sludge unit at different hydraulic residence times (HRT) varying between 5 and 30 h while the feed COD (2500 mg l(-1)), 4-CP (500 mg l(-1)) and sludge age (SRT, 10 days) were constant. Effects of HRT variations on COD, 4-CP, toxicity removals and on settling characteristics of the sludge were investigated. Percent COD removals increased and the effluent COD concentrations decreased when HRT increased from 5 to 15 h and remained almost constant for larger HRT levels. Nearly, 91% COD and 99% 4-CP removals were obtained at HRT levels above 15 h. Because of the highly concentrated microbial population at HRT levels of above 15 h, low effluent (reactor) 4-CP concentrations and almost complete toxicity removals were obtained. High biomass concentrations obtained at HRT levels above 15 h were due to low 4-CP contents in the aeration tank yielding negligible inhibition effects and low maintenance requirements. The sludge volume index (SVI) decreased with increasing HRT up to 15 h due to high biomass concentrations at high HRT levels resulting in well settling sludge with low SVI values. Hydraulic residence times above 15 h resulted in more than 90% COD and complete 4-CP and toxicity removals along with well settling sludge.     

Development of plant-friendly vermicompost using novel biotechnological methods

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - For the first time in the world, raw tea waste from tea plants was mineralized by rapid biotechnological methods using beneficial worms, enzymes...     

Estimation of COVID-19 patient numbers using artificial neural networks based on air pollutant concentration levels

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The dilemma between health concerns and the economy is apparent in the context of strategic decision making during the pandemic. In particular,...     

Insights into Effective Adsorption of Lead ions from Aqueous Solutions by Using Chitosan-Bentonite Composite Beads

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - The chitosan (Ch)—bentonite (B) composite was synthesized and its adsorption properties were investigated for lead ions. The characterization of the...