Ghana: revival of the mineral sector

After almost two decades of decline, Ghana's mineral sector has rebounded significantly and is currently the main foreign exchange earner. Gold mining is the principal activity within the sector and accounted for 41 percent of total export earnings in 1996. This paper presents an overview of Ghana's mineral industry and covers mineral resources, production and reserves; mining investments; the role of mining in the economy; and the structure of the industry. An overview of the national mineral policy is also presented to depict the current regulatory and fiscal environment in which the industry operates. The spectacular reversal in mineral sector performance can be attributed to the adoption of World Bank recommendations in a new national mineral policy, the 1986 Minerals and Mining Law, aimed at revitalizing the sector.     

Power system planning with emission constraints: Effects of CCS retrofitting

Today, the world's energy needs are still supplied mainly from fossil fuel based resources. This is true for electricity generation as well, thus making the power sector responsible for 45% of greenhouse gas emissions. The present climate crisis has made it necessary to minimise emissions in power generation, with low-carbon energy sources taking on greater significance in recent years. However, most low-carbon sources have inherent problems, like intermittency and high capital expenditure. A suitable alternative is carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology which allows continued fossil fuel-based electricity generation at much lower rates of emission. Two approaches are possible in the deployment of CCS technology. The first is to introduce new power plants equipped for carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture, while systematically shutting down existing coal power plants. Another is to retrofit existing power plants for CO₂ capture. These approaches are compared in this work. The study shows that allowing CCS retrofitting of existing power plants can reduce the overall cost requirement significantly. In addition, a sensitivity analysis is also done to study the effect of nuclear energy on the overall energy mix.     

The Syrian refugee crisis: how local governments and NGOs manage their image via social media

This study, based on situational crisis communication theory and set in the context of the Syrian refugee crisis, seeks first to conduct a comparative analysis of the management of online citizen engagement by local governments and non‐governmental organisations (NGOs). Second, it aims to examine the relationship between certain factors pertaining to the types of responses submitted by citizens via the social media of the aforementioned actors. The sample is composed of several Spanish local governments and NGOs belonging to Red de Municipios de Acogida de Refugiados (Local Government Network for Refugee Allocation). The main findings are that NGOs' online engagement with citizens is more than that of local governments. Notably, NGOs are much more active on their Facebook pages than are local governments. The two actors converge, though, in terms of disseminating instructive information and paying less attention to ‘basic crisis response options’. Moreover, the factors ‘content type’, ‘reputation’, and ‘woman’ affect the type of response messages sent by citizens.     

长江源区水质分析及与长江武汉段水质对比

论述了长江源区各拉丹东雪山卧美通冬流域和沱沱河雪、水的水化学特征,为评价该地区水资源、水质和气候环境提供依据;并以此为背景。讨论并对比了长江武汉地段的水质,通过水质问的变化来反映长江水体的水质变化情况。     

Toward a Sectorwide Design for Environment Support System for the Rail Industry

Rail has an important role to play in the development toward a sustainable transportation system. In this perspective, the European Brite Euram Project RAVEL (Rail Vehicle Eco-Efficient Design) has developed a rail sectorwide Design for Environment system to be used and standardized throughout the full supply chain. At the core of the system, quantitative environmental performance indicators for rail vehicles and components are used to incorporate environmental performance target levels in the product requirements and to measure and communicate achieved environmental performance. The concept of eco-efficiency is used to integrate both environmental and economical considerations. The methodology further builds on a standardized material list, standardized data formats, and proactive design guidance. To date, first steps are already taken to integrate the RAVEL project results into sector initiatives toward industrywide acceptance and standardization.Published online Note: This version was published online in June 2005 with the cover date of August 2004.     

南京市产业结构优化分析

南京市经济健康、快速发展的关键是产业结构的调整与优化，对南京市产业结构进行深入分析具有十分重要的实际意义。结合定性和定量的方法，从产业结构演变、产业水平、产业效益和工业内部结构等几个方面对南京市产业结构加以分析，并在此基础上，归纳出南京市产业结构的特点，提出了南京市产业结构优化的对策。     

The mining industry in the European Union: Analysis of inter-industry linkages using input–output analysis

Input–output modelling is a useful tool in policy analysis and economic planning. This methodology is used to detect the inter-industry linkages known as forward and backward linkages. Examination of these measures provides one mechanism for identifying “key” or “leading” sectors. The main objective of this paper is to measure the linkages of the mining and quarrying industry in the European Union (EU) and to determine if any of the industry subsectors can be considered key sectors. The paper shows that three subsectors can be considered key sectors: the mining of coal and lignite and extraction of peat in Germany; mining of metal ores in Sweden; and other mining and quarrying in Austria, Denmark and Spain. These sectors are more stimulated by overall industry growth than other sectors and have greater impacts in terms of investment expenditures on the national economy than other sectors. The values of the forward and backward linkages show that the mining and quarrying is an industry that would be stimulated by an increase in a regional economy's production more than other sectors, while an increase in the mining and quarrying industry's output would not stimulate this regional economy more than an increase in other sectors.     

Climate change and Ontario forests: Prospects for building institutional adaptive capacity

Institutions play an important role in the adaptive capacity of a system in responding to climate change. This review paper characterizes the status of the collective institutional response (government, industry, First Nation, community, civil society) to climate change in the forest sector of the Canadian province of Ontario, and highlights the presence and nature of inter-institutional networks as part of the response. Based on a synthesis of the commonalities in the public administration and policy literature on tackling wicked problems, and the resilience literature, inter-institutional networks, which foster exchange of different types of knowledge, are an important aspect of enhancing the adaptive capacity of social–ecological systems such as the forest sector. Based on a content analysis of publicly available documents and insights gained from representatives of government, community members and non-governmental organizations, mitigation and adaptations strategies are described. At the provincial level there have been some new innovations in inter-institutional networks, but expansion of the forest stakeholders involved in such networks would further enhance adaptive capacity. In particular, it is important to network with First Nations and other forest-dependent communities who have a heightened vulnerability to climate change. The presence of a collaborative capacity builder could foster the transfer, receipt and integration of knowledge across the networks, and ultimately build long-term collaborative problem-solving capacity in the Ontario forest sector.

Screening life cycle assessment of an office used for academic purposes

The aim of this study is to contribute to the analysis of the environmental impacts deriving from common aspects of the service sector activity and to identify auxiliary actions and hot spots in order to improve the environmental performance of offices used for educational purposes. In that aspect, a screening life cycle assessment (LCA) for a university office-workstation of Democritus University of Thrace, Greece, was performed with the application of the SimaPro LCA software, and the Impact 2002+ method with fifteen impact categories for the interpretation of results. Findings from this research indicated that energy consumption for the powering electronic appliances was the key factor affecting most of the environmental impact categories examined. The impact categories most seriously affected by the office life cycle were the emissions of respiratory inorganics (39%), global warming (31%) and non-renewable energy use (27%). The saving of the energy consumed due to standby mode could lead to a reduction of 2.4% of the total energy consumption in the office in a yearly basis with proportional positive influence in all the respective impact categories. Additionally, utilization of solar energy through photovoltaic panels could lead to a reduction close to 90% for a number of impact categories. Therefore, actions and strategies for improving the environmental performance of academic offices should focus on the reduction of energy consumption.     

Typologies of collaborative governance for scaling nature-based solutions in two strategic South African river systems

Scaled up planning and implementation of nature-based solutions requires better understanding of broad characteristics (typologies) of the current governance and financing landscape, collaborative approaches amidst local complexities, and factors of scalability. An inventory was compiled of water-related ecological infrastructure intervention projects in two river systems in South Africa, incorporating actor, environmental, social, and financial dimensions and benefits. Qualitative participatory analysis revealed eight typologies. Post-hoc classification analysis determined similarities and/or unique characteristics of seven quantitative typologies. Key characterising factors included the complexity/size of financial flows, complexity of partnership/governance arrangements, mandates/goals of actors, type of ecological infrastructure, trade-offs in investment in ecological/built infrastructure, and the model used for social benefits. Identified scalable typologies offer structures suited to increased investment, with other typologies offering specialised local value. A range of ecological infrastructure intervention typologies with differing biophysical and socioeconomic outcomes provide choices for investors with specific goals, and benefits to landscape actors.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-021-01531-z.