Towards guidelines for post‐disaster vulnerability reduction in informal settlements

Although the development community has long recognised that securing land tenure and improving housing design can benefit significantly informal settlement residents, there is little research on these issues in communities exposed to natural disasters and hazards. Informal settlements often are located on land left vacant because of inherent risks, such as floodplains, and there is a long history worldwide of disasters affecting informal settlements. This research tackles the following questions: how can informal settlement vulnerabilities be reduced in a post‐disaster setting?; and what are the key issues to address in post‐disaster reconstruction? The main purpose of the paper is to develop a set of initial guidelines for post‐disaster risk reduction in informal settlements, stressing connections to tenure and housing/community design in the reconstruction process. The paper examines disaster and reconstruction responses in two disaster‐affected regions—Jimani, Dominican Republic, and Vargas State, Venezuela—where informal settlements have been hit particularly hard.     

非正规填埋场矿化垃圾理化性质与资源化利用研究

为探索非正规垃圾填埋场矿化垃圾资源化利用问题,以广东省东莞市常平镇桥沥垃圾填埋场矿化垃圾为例,多点采集样品经人工分拣和不同粒径段筛分后,对其物理组成和化学性质进行了分析.结果表明:矿化垃圾中腐殖土主要在40mm粒径段以下,占47.3%,塑料、织物及木竹等可燃轻质垃圾主要在大于80mm粒径段,占40.1%;工程筛分粒径可选40mm,筛上物主要为可燃物,筛下物主要为腐殖土;按照有机肥堆肥腐熟标准,筛下物腐殖土基本可达到腐熟,营养物质含量达到《城市生活垃圾农用标准》(GB8172-1987)要求,但部分重金属含量超标;矿化垃圾经筛分后的轻质垃圾,热值约为6000kJ/kg,可直接进行焚烧处理,将其制备成垃圾衍生燃料(RDF)后,热值可达10000~24000kJ/kg.     

基于投入产出生命周期模型的建筑业能耗及敏感性分析

建设活动消耗了大量能源,研究建筑业能耗测算方法并分析其影响因素有助于建筑业的节能减排. 采用投入产出生命周期评价模型测算建筑业能耗,分析建筑业能耗对部门间联系、部门能源强度和建筑业规模等因素变化的敏感性,提出部门对建筑业能耗的技术责任系数和结构责任系数,以判断部门在降低建筑业能耗中的责任. 结果表明,2010年我国建筑业能耗为1.07×109 t(以标准煤计);技术责任系数最大的部门是黑色金属冶炼及延压(0.489 8),其次是非金属矿物制品(0.479 8)和化工(0.211 8)等;除建筑业外,结构责任系数较大的部门包括非金属矿物制品(0.276 4)和黑色金属冶炼及延压(0.246 0)等;建筑业能耗对黑色金属冶炼及延压(0.243 8)和非金属矿物制品(0.203 4)等部门能源强度的变化最敏感. 降低建筑业能耗应注重促进高能耗建材生产节能、强化建设活动科学管理、推广高性能低能耗材料应用、提高基础设施建设水平和深化住房市场化改革等方面.      

Informal Waste Management

This article discusses the poorly assessed topic of informal waste management systems, in which there appears to be a high level of heterogeneity throughout the world. The article considers the ways scavengers function within the broader context of waste management; they show a wide range of locally formed and adapted activities and social systems. Examples from different cultures are included: the United States, Jamaica, Brazil, Egypt and Indonesia. The authors advocate comparative research and find a contextual, holistic approach to be the most appropriate. Using such an approach, they isolate the important factors that characterize these systems: technical, socio-cultural, socio-political and organizational aspects are elaborated. Experiments in intervention have been undertaken at various levels, from varying ideological and theoretical backgrounds. Academic analyses have ranged from neo-Marxist political economy models to neo-liberal development approaches. As expressed in the title the authors conclude that informal waste management systems are unjustifiably considered problematic whereas they often reveal great development potential.     

Refuting the paradigm of water services privatisation

The aim of this article is to question the fundamental assumptions behind privatisation and public–private partnerships. The article shows that instead of radically increasing private sector involvement, public sector reforms should be seriously considered. Public–private partnerships should be implemented so that the strengths of all the stakeholders may be fully utilised.     

Financing of wasteland afforestation in India

India has vast tracts of wastelands, which have been lying barren for ages. Most such lands are physically suitable for growing trees and thus could be put to socially productive uses. However, although usually economically viable, afforestation requires massive initial investment, generally beyond the means of the landowners. Also, government budgetary allocations do not cover current needs. In this situation, institutional credit is required. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) of India has recognized this need and has devised a number of different schemes to provide refinance facilities to individuals and organisations. Although the number of forestry schemes refinanced by NABARD has increased rapidly in the past, they currently constitute only about 1% of the total number of loans sanctioned, and only about 2% of NABARD's cumulative loan disbursement to date. In fact, since 1992, the share of afforestation schemes has declined. A number of factors have been identified as major constraints, including time-consuming and complicated procedures for accessing land; restrictions on harvesting and selling trees; delays in sanctioning and disbursement of bank credit; non-remunerative prices for tree products; and flawed public policies and programmes. This article argues that unless these constraints are overcome, NABARD will not be able to play an effective role in speeding up development programmes in the forestry sector. It further argues that most of the current constraints on institutional credit for wasteland afforestation can be removed or relaxed. Practical strategies are suggested to mobilize more funds and channel more institutional credit for wasteland afforestation in India.     

Spatial GHG Inventory: Analysis of Uncertainty Sources. A Case Study for Ukraine

A geoinformation technology for creating spatially distributed greenhouse gas inventories based on a methodology provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and special software linking input data, inventory models, and a means for visualization are proposed. This technology opens up new possibilities for qualitative and quantitative spatially distributed presentations of inventory uncertainty at the regional level. Problems concerning uncertainty and verification of the distributed inventory are discussed. A Monte Carlo analysis of uncertainties in the energy sector at the regional level is performed, and a number of simulations concerning the effectiveness of uncertainty reduction in some regions are carried out. Uncertainties in activity data have a considerable influence on overall inventory uncertainty, for example, the inventory uncertainty in the energy sector declines from 3.2 to 2.0% when the uncertainty of energy-related statistical data on fuels combusted in the energy industries declines from 10 to 5%. Within the energy sector, the ‘energy industries’ subsector has the greatest impact on inventory uncertainty. The relative uncertainty in the energy sector inventory can be reduced from 2.19 to 1.47% if the uncertainty of specific statistical data on fuel consumption decreases from 10 to 5%. The ‘energy industries’ subsector has the greatest influence in the Donetsk oblast. Reducing the uncertainty of statistical data on electricity generation in just three regions – the Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Luhansk oblasts – from 7.5 to 4.0% results in a decline from 2.6 to 1.6% in the uncertainty in the national energy sector inventory.     

An Ethical Toolkit for Food Companies: Reflections on its Use

Nowadays many debates are going on that relate to the agricultural and food sector. It looks as if present technological and organizational developments within the agricultural and food sector are badly geared to societal needs and expectations. In this article we briefly present a toolkit for moral communication within the food chain. This toolkit is developed as part of a European research project. Next, we discuss what such a toolkit can bring about, given the characteristics of the present day agricultural and food sector and its wider context. We defend that the toolkit can be seen as one of the mechanisms that can help enterprises in the agricultural and food sector to be accountable. It should, however, be complemented with other mechanisms, first, to empower the wider public and, second, to stimulate a dialogue, on a more equal footing, between public authorities, citizens, and economic actors.     

Greenhouse gas emission and its potential mitigation process from the waste sector in a large-scale exhibition

As one of the largest human activities, World Expo is an important source of anthropogenic Greenhouse Gas emission (GHG), and the GHG emission and other environmental impacts of the Expo Shanghai 2010, where around 59,397 tons of waste was generated during 184 Expo running days, were assessed by life cycle assessment (LCA). Two scenarios, i.e., the actual and expected figures of the waste sector, were assessed and compared, and 124.01 kg CO₂-equivalent (CO₂-eq.), 4.43 kg SO₂-eq., 4.88 kg NO₃⁻-eq., and 3509 m³ water per ton tourist waste were found to be released in terms of global warming (GW), acidification (AC), nutrient enrichment (NE) and spoiled groundwater resources (SGWR), respectively. The total GHG emission was around 3499 ton CO₂-eq. from the waste sector in Expo Park, among which 86.47% was generated during the waste landfilling at the rate of 107.24 kg CO₂-eq., and CH₄, CO and other hydrocarbons (HC) were the main contributors. If the waste sorting process had been implemented according to the plan scenario, around 497 ton CO₂-eq. savings could have been attained. Unlike municipal solid waste, with more organic matter content, an incineration plant is more suitable for tourist waste disposal due to its high heating value, from the GHG reduction perspective.     

Regulatory failures,split-incentives,conflicting interests and a vicious circle of blame: the New Environmental Governance to the rescue?

This paper addresses a current trend of New Environmental Governance (NEG). It examines whether NEG is able to overcome a series of complex regulatory barriers and market shortfalls that stand in the way of carbon emissions reductions in the building sector. Building on an evaluation of 20 NEG arrangements from Australia and the Netherlands, it discusses the limits of the effective implementation and use of NEG in this sector. The paper concludes by suggesting three strategies to improve the performance of NEG arrangements in the building sector.