Evaluating the use of Social Impact Assessment in the context of agricultural development projects in Iran

The utilisation of Social Impact Assessment (SIA) in Iran is analysed in terms of its policy context and its application in practice. Five case studies where SIA was employed in conjunction with Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) for agricultural development projects are evaluated. In addition, the performance of the policy context is assessed. This research revealed that there are legal and institutional constraints to the effective functioning of SIA in Iran, and that there are deficiencies in the operating guidelines. There were serious problems associated with the way SIA was undertaken in all five case studies. Recommendations to improve the policy framework for the conduct of SIA are made. The recommendations advocate for a higher profile of SIA within legislation, for social issues to have greater emphasis in official guidelines for the conduct of EIA and SIA, and for a range of measures to increase the professionalism of SIA practice.     

无线传感器网络在环境监测中的应用

介绍了一种基于无线传感器网络的环境监测系统组成及架构,讨论了系统网络节点、网关的硬件设计,并对基于TinyOS的应用程序组件结构和节点工作流程做了说明。     

原子荧光光谱法同时测定环境水体中痕量锡和锌

采用原子荧光光谱法同时测定环境水样中痕量锡和锌,优化了试验条件。锡在1.00μg/L～10.0μg/L、锌在20.0μg/L～200μg/L范围内线性良好,方法检出限锡为0.13μg/L,锌为1.76μg/L,锡和锌标准溶液测定的相对标准偏差分别为2.9%和4.0%,环境水样加标回收率锡为96.4%～106%,锌为92.0%～111%。     

IFTCIP: An Integrated Optimization Model for Environmental Management under Uncertainty

In this study, an interval-fuzzy two-stage chance-constrained integer programming (IFTCIP) method is developed for supporting environmental management under uncertainty. The IFTCIP improves upon the existing interval, fuzzy, and two-stage programming approaches by allowing uncertainties expressed as probability distributions, fuzzy sets, and discrete intervals to be directly incorporated within a general mixed integer linear programming framework. It has advantages in uncertainty reflection, policy investigation, risk assessment, and capacity-expansion analysis in comparison to the other optimization methods. Moreover, it can help examine the risk of violating system constraints and the associated consequences. The developed method is applied to the planning for facility expansion and waste-flow allocation within a municipal solid waste management system. Violations of capacity constraints are allowed under a range of significance levels, which reflects tradeoffs between the system cost and the constraint-violation risk. The results indicate that reasonable solutions for both binary and continuous variables have been generated under different risk levels. They are useful for generating desired decision alternatives with minimized system cost and constraint-violation risk under various environmental, economic, and system-reliability conditions. Generally, willingness to take a higher risk of constraint violation will guarantee a lower system cost; a strong desire to acquire a lower risk will run into a higher system cost.     

Optimal Selection of Priority Development Areas Considering Tradeoffs Between Hydrology and Development Configuration

Mixed-integer linear programs are proposed for siting development and conservation areas in watersheds, addressing economic objectives (development perimeter and proximity) and ecological objectives. Links between watershed hydrology and ecology need not be well defined. Parameters for the linear programs are obtained from linearization of the SWAT hydrologic model.     

A Global Model Tracking Water, Nitrogen, and Land Inputs and Virtual Transfers from Industrialized Meat Production and Trade

Rising populations and incomes throughout the world have boosted meat demand by over 75% in the last 20years, intensifying pressures on production systems and the natural resources to which they are linked. As a growing proportion of global meat production is traded, the environmental impacts of production become increasingly separated from where the meat is consumed. In this paper, we quantify the use of three important resources associated with industrial livestock production and trade—water, land, and nitrogen—using a country-specific model that combines trade, agronomic, biogeochemical, and hydrological data. Our model focuses on pigs and chickens, as these animals are raised predominantly in intensive systems using concentrated, compound feeds. The results describe the geographical patterns of environmental resource use due to meat production, trade, and consumption. We show that US feed, animal, and meat destined for export require almost as much nitrogen and land, and 20% more water, than products destined for domestic consumption. Model results also demonstrate that among various production factors, improvements in crop yields and animal feed conversion efficiencies result in the most significant reductions in environmental harm. By explicitly tracking the externalities of meat production, we hope to bolster suppliers’ accountability and provide better information to meat consumers.

2008年我国环境保护投资总体特征分析

立足于环保投资数据库,从投资构成、空间分布和行业分布3个方面对我国环保投资进行综合分析。2008年,全国环保投资增幅持续保持较快增长,环保投资弹性系数为1.9,环保投资增速大大超过经济增速,"三同时"项目成为拉动环保投资的主要驱动力。引入了环保投资平衡度的概念,在此基础上对各地区环保投资的合理性进行了初步分析。重点行业环保投资方面,工业治污设施运行费用远远大于同期固定资产投资,一定程度上说明了应对治污运行费用来源给予充分重视,采取措施确保稳定可靠的资金渠道。     

Effect of selected organic and inorganic snow and cloud components on the photochemical generation of nitrite by nitrate irradiation

The effect of selected organic and inorganic compounds, present in snow and cloudwater was studied. Photolysis of solutions of nitrate to nitrite was carried out in the laboratory using a UVB light source. The photolysis and other reactions were then modelled. It is shown that formate, formaldehyde, methanesulphonate, and chloride to a lesser extent, can increase the initial formation rate of nitrite. The effect, particularly significant for formate and formaldehyde, is unlikely to be caused by scavenging of hydroxyl radicals. The experimental data obtained in this work suggest that possible causes are the reduction of nitrogen dioxide and nitrate by radical species formed on photooxidation of the organic compounds. Hydroxyl scavenging by organic and inorganic compounds would not affect the initial formation rate of nitrite, but would protect it from oxidation, therefore, increasing the concentration values reached at long irradiation times. The described processes can be relevant to cloudwater and the quasi-liquid layer on the surface of ice and snow, considering that in the polar regions irradiated snow layers are important sources of nitrous acid to the atmosphere. Formate and (at a lesser extent) formaldehyde are the compounds that play the major role in the described processes of nitrite/nitrous acid photoformation by initial rate enhancement and hydroxyl scavenging.     

从"珠三角火力发电厂排污交易试验计划"看粤港区域环境管理制度创新机遇

总结排污交易在中国的发展历程,展望"珠三角火力发电厂排污交易试验计划实施方案"实施,粤港区域环境管理将面临着一次新的挑战,也是区域环境保护制度创新的重大机遇.     

Carbon capture and storage-desirability from a risk management point of view

Environmental and safety risks related to carbon capture and storage concern leakages and accidental releases during transport and geological storage. Based on principles widely accepted in the EU and beyond in the discussion about the where’s and why’s of nuclear waste repositories, this paper discusses the desirability of carbon capture and storage from a risk management point of view, focusing on environmental risks on the global level (climate change). On this basis it is concluded that, if the key energy issue of coming generations, not just in Europe but all around the world, is not the abundance of fossil resources but rather an unacceptably high probability of global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions, then the solution should not include any massive hiding of the emissions but entirely focus on the avoidance based on improved technology in power plants and other industrial installations.