Using Multicriteria Methods in Environmental Planning and Management

In environmental planning and decision processes several alternatives are analyzed in terms of multiple noncommensurate criteria, and many different stakeholders with conflicting preferences are involved. Based on our experience in real-life applications, we discuss how multicriteria decision aid (MCDA) methods can be used successfully in such processes. MCDA methods support these processes by providing a framework for collecting, storing, and processing all relevant information, thus making the decision process traceable and transparent. It is therefore possible to understand and explain why, under several conflicting preferences, a particular decision was made. The MCDA framework also makes the requirements for new information explicit, thus supporting the allocation of resources for the process.     

Reinventing Environmental Regulation from the Grassroots Up: Explaining and Expanding the Success of the Toxics Release Inventory

/ The success of the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) stands in stark contrast to most other environmental regulations in the United States. Between its inception in 1988 and 1995, releases of chemicals listed on the TRI have declined by 45%. We argue the TRI has achieved this regulatory success by creating a mechanism of "populist maxi-min regulation." This style of regulation differs from traditional command-and-control in several ways. First, the majorrole of public agencies is not to set and enforce standards, but to establish an information-rich context for private citizens, interest groups, and firms to solve environmental problems. Second, environmental "standards" are not determined by expert analysis of acceptable risk, but are effectively set at the levels informed citizens will accept. Third, firms adopt pollution prevention and abatement measures in response to a dynamic range of public pressures rather than to formalized agency standards or governmental sanction. Finally, public pressure ruthlessly focuses on the worst polluters-maximum attention to minimum performers-to induce them to adopt more effective environmental practices. TRI has inadvertently set in motion this alternative style of regulation that has, in turn, dramatically reduced toxics emissions in the United States. By properly understanding the mechanisms that drive TRI's accomplishments, more intentional public policy designs can expand the system of populist maxi-min regulation and achieve even more rapid toxics reduction.     

The potential for combining indigenous and western knowledge in reducing vulnerability to environmental hazards in small island developing states

The benefits of indigenous knowledge within disaster risk reduction are gradually being acknowledged and identified. However, despite this acknowledgement there continues to be a gap in reaching the right people with the correct strategies for disaster risk reduction.This paper identifies the need for a specific framework identifying how indigenous and western knowledge may be combined to mitigate against the intrinsic effects of environmental processes and therefore reduce the vulnerability of rural indigenous communities in small island developing states (SIDS) to environmental hazards. This involves a review of the impacts of environmental processes and their intrinsic effects upon rural indigenous communities in SIDS and how indigenous knowledge has contributed to their coping capacity. The paper concludes that the vulnerability of indigenous communities in SIDS to environmental hazards can only be addressed through the utilisation of both indigenous and Western knowledge in a culturally compatible and sustainable manner.     

首都大学生的自然灾害认知调查与减灾教育建议

2006年国际减灾日的主题是"减灾始于学校",了解学生的灾害认知水平有助于减灾教育工作的有效开展。以北京5所高校的大学生为调查对象,通过问卷方式调查大学生对自然灾害的关注程度、防灾意识、灾害理论知识、应急行为知识以及对减灾教育的看法。问卷统计结果表明:大学生总体的灾害认知水平较低,现行减灾教育方式和内容与学生的期望有较大偏差。在此基础上,提出了减灾教育内容要将学生"该知道的"与"想知道的"相结合,通过演练演习等方式提高学生的防灾应急实际技能等减灾教育建议。     

环境保护中政府和公众的博弈

发展经济和保护环境是现代政府治理的主要课题。环境问题越来越严峻,对公众的影响越来越深,政府和公众的环保意识不断增强,他们不断地参与到环境保护运动中。政府和公众都是理性的经济人,他们有不同的利益诉求。由于信息交流的不顺畅,政府和公众在环境保护参与中进行着博弈。在博弈的过程中,博弈的情景不断变化,政府和公众对环境问题的认知在不断地变化,他们采取的策略也不断发生变化,他们之间的博弈从合作博弈到非合作博弈再到合作博弈,不断循环,从而达到发展经济和保护环境的双重目的。     

Technological improvements in automotive battery recycling

Recycling of automotive batteries for the recovery of secondary lead is extremely important in Brazil, for the country does not possess large reserves of this metal. Lead is one of the most widely used metals in the world, but it is highly toxic, posing risks for humans and for the environment if not utilized or treated adequately. Industrial waste containing lead in Brazil are classified by the Brazilian Residue Code (NBR—10004:2004) as hazardous. The lead recycling process employed by the recycling industry in Brazil is the pyrometallurgical process in a rotary furnace. This process consists of four stages: (1) grinding of the battery to separate plastic, electrolyte and lead plates; (2) lead reduction in a rotary furnace; (3) separation of metallic lead from slag; and (4) refining of recycled lead. The purpose of this work is to propose process improvements aimed primarily at increasing production output by reducing the loss of lead in slag and particulates, thereby providing a healthier work environment in line with Brazilian environmental and labor laws.     

Interpreting dynamics of aquatic resources: A perspective for resource managers

Since the presentation of the Leopold Report (Leopold et al. 1963) to the United States Secretary of the Interior, recommendations in the document for managing natural park resources on the ecosystem level have been included in the management policies of the National Park Service. In many instances, however, management programs have continued to focus on individual resource problems, without apparent concern for the ecological consequences on ecosystems. Without knowledge of the interrelationships of ecosystem components, solving one problem may result in other resource problems. Graphic approaches are presented as potential tools to view these complex interrelationships relative to the needs of the resource manager. Interpreting the dynamics of aquatic systems is emphasized.     

Cumulative silvicultural impacts on watersheds: A hydrologic and regulatory dilemma

Because of the nature of watersheds, the hydrologic and erosional impacts of logging and related road-building activities may move offsite, affecting areas downslope and downstream from the operation. The degree to which this occurs depends on the interaction of many variables, including soils, bedrock geology, vegetation, the timing and size of storm events, logging technology, and operator performance. In parts of northwestern California, these variables combine to produce significant water quality degradation, with resulting damage to anadromous fish habitat.Examination of recent aerial photographs, combined with a review of public records, shows that many timber harvest operations were concentrated in a single 83 km² watershed in the lower Klamath River Basin within the past decade. The resulting soil disturbance in this case seems likely to result in cumulative off-site water quality degradation in the lower portion of the Basin.In California, both state and federal laws require consideration of possible cumulative effects of multiple timber harvest operations. In spite of recent reforms that have given the state a larger role in regulating forest practices on private land, each timber harvest plan is still evaluated in isolation from other plans in the same watershed. A process of collaborative state-private watershed planning with increased input of geologic information offers the best long-term approach to the problem of assessing cumulative effects of multiple timber harvest operations. Such a reform could ultimately emerge from the ongoing water quality planning process under Section 208 of the amended Federal Water Pollution Control Act.     

Application of the Braun-Blanquet cover-abundance scale for vegetation analysis in land development studies

To document environmental impact predictions for land development, as required by United States government regulatory agencies, vegetation studies are conducted using a variety of methods. Density measurement (stem counts) is one method that is frequently used. However, density measurement of shrub and herbaceous vegetation is time-consuming and costly. As an alternative, the Braun-Blanquet cover-abundance scale was used to analyze vegetation in several ecological studies. Results from one of these studies show that the Braun-Blanquet method requires only one third to one fifth the field time required for the density method. Furthermore, cover-abundance ratings are better suited than density values to elucidate graphically species-environment relationships. For extensive surveys this method provides sufficiently accurate baseline data to allow environmental impact assessment as required by regulatory agencies.     

The commons dilemma

Whenever a short-term or local need in the exploitation of a scarce natural resource must be pitted against its long-term use or the needs of the larger community, the commons dilemma arises. The study of commons dilemmas originated in agricultural economies but has importance in all resource management areas. Psychologists have recently found it to be a useful paradigm in the study of decision-making behavior.This paper reviews the commons dilemma as it has been used in three areas of psychological research: games theory, animal and human territorial behavior, and behavior reinforcement. In the first area, results show how communication within groups operates in cooperation/competition situations. In the second, the effects of social and political ideologies are examined. In the third, the implications of the commons dilemma with regard to breaking out of social traps are discussed. Throughout, the relevance of this basic psychological research to rational resource management is made clear. An extensive bibliography of relevant original research is provided.