Improving flood risk analysis for effectively supporting the implementation of flood risk management plans: The case study of “Serio” Valley

The EU Flood Directive 2007/60 requires the assessment and delineation of flood risk maps. The latter should provide the required knowledge for the development of flood risk management plans (FRMPs), that should deal with all features of risk management: e.g. preparation, protection and prevention, comprising also the phase of the flood forecasting and warning systems, in addition to the emergency management. The risk maps, delineated through the expert-drive qualitative (EDQ) approach currently adopted in several European countries, such as Italy, fail to represent the information base that needed by stakeholders for selecting the suitable objectives and designing the appropriate mitigation actions for flood risk management. In the EDQ approach, the flood hazard and the potential damage degree maps are combined by means of a matrix to obtain a qualitative flood risk map. However, the performance of the risk matrix is not usually rigorous validated and, therefore, presents limits, such as subjective and not careful explained interpretation of rating and poor resolution, (due to range compression), that can produce errors in comparative ranking of risk areas. In this context, this paper proposes the FloodRisk approach that aims to improve the efficacy of flood risk map overcoming the limits of EDQ approach in supplying the knowledge base that allow to analyze costs and benefits of potential mitigation measures. However, the proposed approach is also able to involve the citizens in the flood management process, enhancing their awareness. An application of FloodRisk procedure is showed on a pilot case in “Serio” Valley, (North Italy), and its strengths and limits, in terms of additional efforts required in its application compared with EDQ procedure, have been discussed focusing on the efficacy of the outcomes provided for the fulfillment of FRMPs. The results have demonstrated the ability of FloodRisk, respect to EDQ approach, to distinguish successfully different levels of vulnerability of exposure elements, thanks to the use of asset value and depth-damage curves, that allows a suitably evaluation of the effectiveness of risk mitigation strategies. In this light, a successfully application of a cost-benefit analysis of FloodRisk approach on a portfolio of alternative mitigation actions, (i.e. structural and non-structural measurements), has been demonstrated on the proposed study case. However, FloodRisk requires additional information, e.g. water depths assessment and assets values, and it needs a proper analysis and communication of the uncertainty in its results. Although they still exist limitations that impede, at present, the FloodRisk application without an adequate understanding and a critical consideration of the hazard, exposure and vulnerability characteristics of the study area, considerations are supplied on how the utilization of this approach can be maximized in the light of the next flood risk maps revision due by December 2019.     

A multiple criteria evaluation of sustainable agricultural development models using AHP

Selection of the appropriate agricultural development model has become an important issue in Iran. Using data from Fars province of Iran, the purpose of this paper is to use analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for selecting between the two competing sustainable agricultural development models, which have been developed based on the general tenets of Ecological Modernization (EM) and De-Modernization (DM) theories. Farmers, environmentalists, board members of rural cooperative, rural women and experts from Fars Agricultural (Jehad-e-Keshavarzi) Organization participated in application of AHP to this study. They applied AHP to determine the priority of DM and EM based sustainable agricultural development models. Each group determined the priority of the two models for sustainable agricultural development. The findings indicated that ecological criteria i.e. wise use of resources, environmental protection and product quality are the most important criteria for sustainable agriculture of Iran, followed by economic criterion employment and social criterion participation. A sensitivity analysis was carried out to determine the critical factors that affected the priority of alternatives. The results indicated that EM-based sustainable agricultural development model has a higher priority as the theoretical base of agricultural development of Iran. Readers should send their comments on this paper to BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue     

VOLUNTARY AGREEMENTS IN WATERSHED PROTECTION EXPERIENCES FROM COSTA RICA

This article analyses the application of voluntary environmental agreements (VEAs) in watershed protection in Costa Rica. Next to an involvement of private energy firms, the Costa Rican state, and farmers, the participation of NGOs is a remarkable feature. From an analysis of these multi-stakeholder arrangements, it is concluded that these arrangements bring benefits to all actors involved. VEAs have been able to grow as powerful policy instruments, generating positive environmental effects. Essential is their embedded ness in a broader set of environmental policies, especially related to forest management Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

A review of Australian approaches for monitoring,assessing and reporting estuarine condition: II. State and Territory programs

In contrast to Europe, the USA and South Africa, Australia has no specific, overarching federal legislation to underpin a nationally-coordinated framework for monitoring, assessing and reporting estuarine condition. This has resulted in a complex mosaic of diverse approaches and governance structures, hindering the ability to make inter-State comparisons. In this second part of a comprehensive three-part review, we present a systematic appraisal of current and impending approaches for measuring and reporting estuarine condition in each of Australia’s States and Territories. A concise summary is provided in each case, supported by extensive appendices containing detailed accounts of relevant monitoring and reporting programs. We synthesise and evaluate this output at the State/Territory level, highlighting areas of improvement and major gaps.     

石英砂加工企业职业病危害防护措施与管理对策研究

通过对安徽省石英砂加工企业生产工艺流程和现场进行调查分析,得出矽尘和噪声是两种最主要的职业病危害因素,发现石英砂生产企业矽尘和噪声危害十分严重,生产作业现场未配备任何防护装备和个人防护用品,作业人员接触职业病危害的比率非常高。分析了石英砂加工企业在职业病危害防护与管理方面的欠缺与不足,提出了针对矽尘和噪声危害因素的具体工程防护措施与管理对策,从源头控制和消除职业病危害,保护劳动者的生命安全与健康。     

施工现场安全生产人员聚集性活动安全专项管理

施工安全生产风险是由风险事件概率和风险后果2个要素决定的。从施工安全风险后果,即潜在安全风险后果影响的人员角度,介绍了施工现场安全生产人员聚集性活动安全专项的系统管理方法。施工安全风险跟踪监控实践,表明该方法对促进安全生产绩效具有重要意义。     

航空公司安全信息管理水平评价方法研究

分析了目前我国航空公司在安全信息管理和安全信息管理水平综合评价方面存在的问题.从航空公司安全信息管理的实际工作出发,结合安全管理体系(SMS)中对于安全信息管理的要求,建立了航空公司安全信息管理水平评价指标体系,并针对每个评价指标建立了4个等级的评价标准.基于主成分分析方法建立了航空公司安全信息管理水平综合评价模型.按照建立的指标体系和评价标准对5家航空公司进行了安全信息管理水平评分,并以此数据为基础,利用建立的综合评价模型对5家公司的安全信息管理水平进行了综合评价和排序,针对评价结果对各航空公司提高安全信息管理水平提出了具体的建议措施.     

高温职业危害风险分级与分级管理研究

为进一步研究高温作业职业危害风险强度,探讨高温作业环境条件下环境温度与劳动强度对劳动者健康的影响及其联合作用。采用高温环境模拟仓实验与建筑行业露天高温作业现场调研和测试相结合的方法,以高温环境和心血管体能负荷值(%CVL)作为高温作业危害风险分级的主要参照指标。提出了高温作业职业危害风险分级的技术方法和针对不同程度高温职业危害风险管理措施的具体建议,为保护高温作业劳动者安全与健康提供科学依据。     

Multi-level water governance – the case of the Morsa River Basin in Norway

Management of fresh water resources meets a range of often conflicting interests. Waterways usually run across political and administrative borders and hence make management difficult and collective action politically challenging. In order to meet these challenges, multi-level bioregional approaches to water management have been called for. Such an approach is institutionalised in the EU's Water Framework Directive (WFD). This paper presents the experiences of the Morsa water sub-district in southern Norway, a pilot for implementing the WFD. The paper discusses Morsa in the light of four principles for multi-level water governance: management on a bioregional scale; polycentric governance; public participation; and an experimental approach to water governance. Contrary to widely held assumptions that collective action in polycentric networks will be difficult because actors will follow their own narrow interests, the findings demonstrate how this is not an absolute truth, and how social action cannot be fully explained by rational action theories. The analysis concludes that the relative success of Morsa relates to a complex of factors, including openness of practices and active involvement of key actors, strong but including leadership, and a knowledge based ‘hybrid’ type of multi-level network combining horizontal and vertical network governance.