Integration of Visual Quality Considerations in Development of Israeli Vegetation Management Policy

This article deals with the visual quality of Mediterranean vegetation groups in northern Israel, the public's preference of these groups as a visual resource, and the policy options for their management. The study is based on a sample of 44 Mediterranean vegetation groups and three population groups of local residents, who were interviewed using a questionnaire and photographs of the vegetation groups. The results of the research showed that plant classification methods based on flora composition, habitat, and external appearance were found to be suitable for visual plant classification and for the evaluation of visual preference of vegetation groups by the interviewed public. The vegetation groups of planted pine forests and olive groves, characterizing a cultured vegetation landscape, were preferred over typical Mediterranean landscapes such as scrub and grassed scrub. The researchers noted a marked difference between the two products of vegetation management policy, one that proposes the conservation and restoration of the variety of native Mediterranean vegetation landscape, and a second that advanced the development of the cultured landscape of planted olive groves and pines forests, which were highly preferred by the public. The authors suggested the development of an integrated vegetation management policy that would combine both needs and thus reduce the gap between the policy proposed by planners and the local population's visual preference.     

Environmental Policy Implementation in Rural China: A Case Study of Yuhang, Zhejiang

The rapid growth of rural enterprises has transformed the Chinese countryside. Although rural industrialisation has resulted in increased financial well-being, it has also contributed to decreased environmental quality. While China has strong environmental protection laws, this paper will demonstrate that they are not being effectively implemented in a rural region in Zhejiang Province. This is due to a number of social, political, and economic barriers that prevent agencies from effectively enforcing environmental policies and regulatory mechanisms. This paper investigates the implementation of China's environmental policies through a case study in Yuhang County, Zhejiang Province. It demonstrates that the implementation of environmental impact assessment, discharge fees, and limited time treatment is limited by inadequate technology, low finances, limited human resources, poor public environmental awareness, faulty data, inferior agency reports, organizational conflict, relations based on guanxi, and low discharge fee prices.     

GIS-based assessment of the threat to world forests by patterns of non-sustainable civilisation nature interaction

The paper presents a novel transdisciplinary approach to investigate non-sustainable civilisation–nature interactions in the context of global change. The approach rests on the decomposition of intricate dynamics of Global Change into problematic patterns civilisation nature interactions (‘syndromes’) this is done by an iterative process of observations, data and theoretical system analysis and GIS-based modelling attempts. These syndromes of global change characterise endangering and risky developments of civilisation nature interaction and represent a baseline for measuring and indicating ‘non-sustainability’; in order to have a sustainable development it is necessary to have a far-reaching absence of syndromes. They encompass the core problems of global change, e.g. soil degradation, climate change, threats to biodiversity or global deforestation. Patterns are defined as characteristic constellations of global change trends (‘symptoms’). Cause–effect schemes of symptoms and their interrelations are constituted as complex phenomena resulting from interactions over the different spheres of the Earth system (biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, population, pedosphere, economy, psychosocial sphere, social organisation, science and technology). The approach is illustrated by an analysis of civilisation–nature interaction patterns relevant for global deforestation. Global forest ecosystems have been chosen for this investigation because of their important role in the global carbon cycle and their importance for biological diversity. The resulting geographical patchwork of the combined dispositions and intensities of the different syndromes describes current and future regional threats to forests by their underlying global cause–effect patterns of civilisation–nature interaction.     

The strategic gap in air-quality management

The successful management of atmospheric pollution is best achieved when the benefits of controls can be clearly demonstrated to those who the controls affect. There is a need to demonstrate to a population that change will benefit the social and biophysical aspects of that population’s environment as a whole. This paper suggests that policy-makers need to demonstrate clearly the advantages of a change in behaviour for the local environment while concurrently minimising the life-style costs of the people whose co-operation is needed to bring that change about. This requires an improved understanding of the activities affected and the message and media by which environmental benefits can be communicated in the light of that understanding.Using the example of tropospheric ozone, this paper argues that air-quality management requires close regional co-ordination which can facilitate the establishment and implementation of local policy options. The ability of the UK National Air Quality Strategy to achieve this in its present form is discussed and the existence of a strategic gap between the current approach to air-quality management and the major issues surrounding air quality considered.     

PLANNING FOR DROUGHT: MOVING FROM CRISIS TO RISK MANAGEMENT1

ABSTRACT: Severe drought is a recurring problem for the United States, as illustrated by widespread economic, social, and environmental impacts. Recent drought episodes and the widespread drought conditions in 1996, 1998, and 1999 emphasized this vulnerability and the need for a more proactive, risk management approach to drought management that would place greater emphasis on preparedness planning and mitigation actions. Drought planning has become a principal tool of states and other levels of government to improve their response to droughts. For example, since 1982, the number of states with drought plans has increased from 3 to 29. Many local governments have also adopted drought or water shortage plans. Unfortunately, most state drought plans were established during the 1980s and early 1990s and emphasize emergency response or crisis management rather than risk management. This paper presents a substantive revision of a 10‐step drought planning process that has been applied widely in the United States and elsewhere. The revised planning process places more weight on risk assessment and the development and implementation of mitigation actions and programs. The goal of this paper is to encourage states to adopt this planning process in the revision of existing drought plans or, for states without plans, in the development of new plans.     

Sustainable Health Risk Management and the Role of Cross-Disciplinary Professionals in Developing Countries: Mexican Experience

The paper argues health risk management in Developing Countries cannot be sustainable unless it is conceived, planned, implemented and maintained by community-led multi-stakeholder groups using an integrated capacity building process with five components: (1) education and awareness raising; (2) strengthening information resources and decision making; (3) strengthening regulations and compliance; (4) improving basic sanitation infrastructure; and (5) stimulating the market for support products and services for health and environment sectors. Occupational and environmental health professionals with cross-disciplinary understanding are uniquely qualified to build much-needed bridges between stakeholders, risk science and policy. They should adopt a cost-effective mentality, adapting models/methods used in developed countries to developing country contexts, negotiating political obstacles and understanding cultural differences in risk sources, exposures and perceptions. Stakeholders – health professionals, community representatives, officials, NGOs/advocacy groups, industries, and providers of products/services – collaborate to detect needs, mobilize resources, design, develop, implement, consolidate and maintain interventions to priority problems. Field experience in Mexico supports the argument. This sustainability process is adaptable to other keystone development sectors like soil and water resources stewardship, biodiversity conservation, agriculture and energy.     

Trade and recycling of used tyres in Western and Eastern Europe

Truck tyres can cause significant environmental pressure through the life cycle. The main aim of this paper is investigate to what extent international policy measures on foreign trade, international recycling and harmonisation of legislation can contribute in effectively reducing environmental pressure caused in the truck tyre life cycle. A two-region simulation model, representing Western and Eastern Europe, is developed that integrates the complete life cycle, incorporates environmental impacts in its economic analysis, is technically dynamic by accounting for learning-by-doing effects, and allows for variations in trade of new and old truck tyres. In this study the economic, environmental and social effectiveness of harmonisation and trade measures in the European life cycle for truck tyre is tested. Several conclusions can be drawn from the model simulations. First, the environmental effects caused by the trade of used tyres from Western to Eastern Europe are of limited impact on the overall environmental damage caused by truck tyres. The consumption stage is by far the main contributor to environmental damage. Within the marginal analysis of trade, harmonisation of disposal fees illustrated to generate very limited positive results. The private and external costs in the solid waste management (SWM) stage are too limited to have a notable impact on the overall configuration of the European tyre life cycle. The introduction of strict laws on tread depth in Eastern Europe has a much stronger impact on material flows than the harmonisation scenario. This suggests that domestic policy measures should be the primarily focus on interventions in this stage of the life cycle, for instance, by improving the management of tyre pressure. Because trade of used tyres has little impact on the consumption stage, this issue should not get priority in European environmental programs.     

Urban Environmental Management in Botswana: Toward a Theoretical Explanation ofPublic Policy Failure

For the last three and half decades, Botswana has been widely acclaimed to be one of sub-Saharan Africa's longest and most stable liberal democracies, coupled with and sustained by a growing economy. One of the major contradictions, however, within this development scenario, has been the neglect of environmental problems in the country in general, and urban environmental issues in particular. Part of the problem fueling the misconception of environmental issues in Botswana is the state's domination of the country's environmental agenda. This is linked to the power disjunction in decision-making and policy processes between state and nonstate actors over the most appropriate course of action to tackle the problems. Without adopting appropriate analytical frameworks, it is possible that the problem of urban environmental mismanagement in Botswana will persist. This article examines some of the major urban environmental issues in Botswana from neighborhood, citywide, and urban–rural interface perspectives. Further, the elite theory of public policy is used to explain constraints on policy change in the urban environmental management arena in Botswana.     

A SURVEY OF THE MICROBIAL QUALITY OF RECYCLED HOUSEHOLD GRAYWATER1

ABSTRACT: In arid regions where populations are expanding and water is scarce, people are searching for ways to conserve and reuse water. One way homeowners can conserve water is by recycling graywater‐wastewater from household sinks, showers, bathtubs, and washing machines. Graywater is used mostly for landscape irrigation. Since graywater is wastewater, reusing it raises concerns about disease transmission, either by contact with the water or the irrigated soil. The purpose of this study was to assess how factors such as number and age of household occupants, types of graywater storage, and sources of graywater used affect the microbial quality of graywater and soil irrigated with graywater. Samples were collected over twelve months from eleven Tucson, Arizona households recycling graywater. Samples of graywater, soil irrigated by graywater, and soil irrigated by potable water were collected. We found that graywater irrigation causes a statistically significant increase in levels of fecal coliforms in soil when compared to soil irrigated with potable water. Graywater from the kitchen sink significantly increases levels of these bacteria in water and soil. Children also cause a statistically significant increase in fecal coliform levels in graywater and soil, possibly introducing a small amount of additional risk in graywater reuse.     

Drivers of deforestation and degradation for 28 tropical conservation landscapes

Analysing the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in conservation landscapes can provide crucial information for conservation management. While rates of forest loss can be measured through remote sensing, on the ground information is needed to confirm the commodities and actors behind deforestation. We administered a questionnaire to Wildlife Conservation Society’s landscape managers to assess the deforestation drivers in 28 tropical conservation landscapes. Commercial and subsistence agriculture were the main drivers of deforestation, followed by settlement expansion and infrastructure development. Rice, rubber, cassava and maize were the crops most frequently cited as drivers of deforestation in these emblematic conservation landscapes. Landscape managers expected deforestation trends to continue at similar or greater magnitude in the future, calling for urgent measures to mitigate these trends.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01325-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.