Compound urban crises

The crises that cities face—such as climate change, pandemics, economic downturn, and racism—are tightly interlinked and cannot be addressed in isolation. This paper addresses compound urban crises as a unique type of problem, in which discrete solutions that tackle each crisis independently are insufficient. Few scholarly debates address compound urban crises and there is, to date, a lack of interdisciplinary insights to inform urban governance responses. Combining ideas from complex adaptive systems and critical urban studies, we develop a set of boundary concepts (unsettlement, unevenness, and unbounding) to understand the complexities of compound urban crises from an interdisciplinary perspective. We employ these concepts to set a research agenda on compound urban crises, highlighting multiple interconnections between urban politics and global dynamics. We conclude by suggesting how these entry points provide a theoretical anchor to develop practical insights to inform and reform urban governance.     

Changes in Nutrient Emissions, Fluxes and Retention in a North-Eastern European Lowland Drainage Basin

Despite dramatic reductions in the 1990s of N and P emissions in the drainage basin, Lake Peipsi/Chudskoe (Estonia/Russia) is still suffering from algal blooms, probably caused by low N:P ratios of the lake water. To quantify the sources and changes of N and P inputs to the lake as a result of economic changes, we modelled emissions, transfer and in-stream retention using a GIS model. The model was calibrated using river monitoring data from the 1985–1989 period, and used to simulate emissions and loads for five future scenarios for 2015–2019. During the 1985–1999 period, diffuse P emissions decreased relatively more than N diffuse emissions, but this was not reflected in the loads to the lake. P loads decreased relatively less than N loads, which caused a decrease in the N:P ratio of the rivers. About 30–45% of diffuse N emissions and only 3–10% of diffuse P emissions reaches the river network. In-stream retention reduces N and P loads to the lake by about 62% and 72%, respectively. Point sources contribute negligibly to the N load to the lake, but form about one-third of the P load. A target/fast development scenario is the most likely scenario for the 2015–2019 period, resulting in higher nutrient loads than in recent years. We conclude that effective load reductions can be achieved by focussing on diffuse N and P emissions close ( < 50 km²) to the lake and by upgrading P removal capacity in wastewater treatment plants of towns.     

Guiding restoration of riparian ecosystems degraded by plant invasions: Insights from a complex social-ecological system in the Global South

Restoring riparian ecosystems in human-dominated landscapes requires attention to complexity, and consideration of diverse drivers, social actors, and contexts. Addressing a Global North bias, this case study uses a mixed-method approach, integrating historical data, remote sensing techniques and stakeholder perceptions to guide restoration of a river in the Western Cape, South Africa. An analysis of aerial photographs of the riparian zone from 1953 to 2016 revealed that although anthropogenic land conversion happened primarily before the 1950s, several land use and land cover classes showed marked increases in area, including: waterbodies (+ 1074%), urban areas (+ 316%), alien weeds (+ 311%) and terrestrial alien trees (+ 79%). These changes have likely been driven by land fragmentation, disturbance, and agricultural intensification. Stakeholder interviews revealed that despite the clear need for restoration, several barriers exist to successful implementation; these stem from inadequate financial resources, inappropriate funding models, institutional challenges, and a lack of techno-scientific knowledge. We give several recommendations to overcome these barriers.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-021-01691-y.     

From teleconnection to telecoupling: taking stock of an emerging framework in land system science

Land use change is influenced by a complexity of drivers that transcend spatial, institutional and temporal scales. The analytical framework of telecoupling has recently been proposed in land system science to address this complexity, particularly the increasing importance of distal connections, flows and feedbacks characterising change in land systems. This framework holds important potential for advancing the analysis of land system change. In this article, we review the state of the art of the telecoupling framework in the land system science literature. The article traces the development of the framework from teleconnection to telecoupling and presents two approaches to telecoupling analysis currently proposed in the literature. Subsequently, we discuss a number of analytical challenges related to categorisation of systems, system boundaries, hierarchy and scale. Finally, we propose approaches to address these challenges by looking beyond land system science to theoretical perspectives from economic geography, social metabolism studies, political ecology and cultural anthropology.     

污水渗滤土地处理系统中的堵塞问题

堵塞问题是污水渗滤土地处理系统经常遇到的.从理论方面对悬浮物截留、吸附及微生物生长所造成的堵塞进行了讨论,并用实例进行了验证.结果表明,不管是悬浮物截留、吸附,还是微生物的生长,所造成的堵塞状况都呈现出随滤层厚度增加按负指数形式递减的趋势.系统内部是否会发生堵塞与原水的成分组成、渗滤介质的有关参数、微生物的活性等都密切相关.对于污水渗滤土地处理系统来说,微生物的生长一般不会导致系统内部产生堵塞,而悬浮物的截留、吸附常常会造成系统表层比较严重的堵塞.     

Effect of linear alkyl benzene sulfonates (LAS) on the fate of phenanthrene in a model ecosystem (water-lava-plant-air)

Advanced closed chamber system was used to study the fate of phenanthrene (3-rings PAHs) in the presence of linear alkylbenzene sulphonates (LAS). The results showed mineralization and metabolism of phenanthrene are fast in the “culture solution-lava-plant-air“ model ecological system. The distribution proportions of applied ^14C-activity in this simulative ecological system were 41%-45%, 14% to 10% and 1% in plant, lava and culture solution respectively, and 18% to 29%, 11% to 8% recovered in the forms of VOCs and CO2. Main parts of the applied ^14C-activity exist in two forms, one is polar metabolites(25%) which mainly distribute in the root(23%),the other is unextractable part (23%) which have been constructed into plant root (8.98%), shoot (0.53%) or bonded to lava(13.2%). The main metabolites of phenanthrene were polar compounels (25% of applied ^14C-activity), and small portion of ^14C-activity was identified as non-polar metabolites(6% of applied ^14C-activity) and apparent phenanthrene(1.91% of applied ^14C-activity). Phenanthrene and its metabolites can be taken up through plant roots and translocated to plant shoots. The presence of LAS significantly increased the the concentration of ^14C-activity in the plant and production of VOCs, at the same time it decreased the phenanthrene level in the plant and the production of CO2 at the concentration of 200 mg/L.     

燃煤电厂排放总气态汞连续自动监测技术的选择

介绍了汞连续排放监测系统和汞吸附管采样系统的主要特点,比较了不同仪器的测定原理、样品处理技术、检出限和测定汞的形态,报道了美国环境保护署认证中心关于两个系统的认证结果.建议将汞连续排放监测系统与汞吸附管监测系统两种技术联合用于我国燃煤电厂排放总气态汞的自动监测.     

国内外尾矿管理制度比较研究和展望

2020年,《中华人民共和国固体废物污染环境防治法》修订完成,对固体废物的污染防治提出了新的要求。尾矿作为一般工业固体废物中产生量和贮存量最大的种类,存在突出的生态环境问题,已成为当前固体废物管理领域不可忽视的治理短板。通过梳理近年来尾矿产生和处置现状以及尾矿环境风险的特点,对比了国内外尾矿管理制度,并针对完善环境管理法规体系,落实尾矿减量化、资源化以及管控尾矿环境风险提出了对策建议。     

The changing face of the Mary Valley: considering the fairness,sustainability and resilience of the agricultural system in a peri-urban setting

Agricultural systems around the world are being severely impacted by changing climate, extreme weather events, urbanisation and neo-liberal (free market) policies. Yet, there are currently few studies on the experiences of those affected by these compounding pressures captured at the local scale. Experiences of adaptive responses – along with recommendations for transformations of the agricultural systems provided by those working in local-level settings – have also not been captured. Yet, such responses provide valuable insights into what can be done, and what needs to be done, to bring about a more equitable and sustainable food system. In this paper, we draw upon the opinions and experiences of those involved in food production and distribution in the historically abundant, peri-urban, region of the Mary Valley, Queensland, Australia. Underpinning the practical and strategic recommendations made by participants is a need for supermarket and government policies to appropriately reflect the immense value of small-scale farmers in sustaining rural communities and enhancing the resilience and sustainability of Australia’s food security. Importantly, our participants in this case study location reiterate that the impacts of climate change are manageable if the farming business is able to generate enough profit to absorb the costs of preparation and recovery from disasters.     

The costs and benefits of packaging waste management systems in Europe: the perspective of local authorities

Local authorities are generally in charge of household packaging waste management operations, particularly in countries with Green Dot schemes or similar extended producer responsibility systems. This leads to the need of establishing a system of financial transfers between the packaging industry and the local authorities (regarding the costs involved in selective collection and sorting). In the present study, the costs and benefits of recycling, from the perspective of local authorities, are compared for Portugal, Belgium and Italy (in Lombardia region), adopting the same economic–financial methodology. The results show that the industry is not paying the net cost of packaging waste management. If the savings attained by diverting packaging waste from other treatment operations are not considered, it seems that the industry should increase the financial support to local authorities. However, if the avoided costs with other treatments are considered as a benefit for local authorities, the costs are generally outweighed by the benefits, and the financial support could, therefore, be reduced.