Metagovernance and policy forum outputs in Swiss environmental politics

Policy forums are lightly institutionalized and stable forms of governance networks that include administrative authorities, interest groups, and scientists. They are said to produce different types of outputs, from simple actor coordination to position papers and implementation documents, but their productivity has also been questioned. Metagovernance strategies can improve the capability of policy forums to produce outputs. To determine how different metagovernance strategies influence the capability of forums to produce joint position papers, 29 policy forums in the Swiss environmental sector are compared through a qualitative comparative analysis. Results indicate that metagovernance strategies such as state actors as forum members or majority decision rules need to be combined with small forum size or low actor heterogeneity. Furthermore, forum foundation by the state complicates the production of position papers.     

Formalising informal solid waste recycling at the Pomona dumpsite in Harare,Zimbabwe

The role of informal recycling in poverty alleviation and solid waste management in cities in developing countries has been receiving increased attention. This study explores the integration of the informal recycling sector with the Harare City Council's solid waste management system, focusing on the Pomona dumpsite. The extent of this integration was compared with interventions proposed in InteRa, a new way of evaluating the integration of informal recyclers with the waste management systems of cities in developing countries. Our results suggest that the Harare City Council, which had the vision of transforming itself into a world‐class city, failed to fully integrate the informal recycling sector. We suggest to policymakers that complete integration of the informal sector will not necessarily prevent cities from achieving such visions. Rather, addressing the neglected interventions may help in achieving their visions.     

Low-impact development for impervious surface connectivity mitigation: assessment of directly connected impervious areas (DCIAs)

Urbanization increases directly connected impervious area (DCIA), the impervious area that is hydraulically connected to downstream drainage by closed pipelines. Although the benefits of low-impact development (LID) have been examined in other studies, its effect on alleviating DCIA levels has seldom been assessed. This study measured the DCIA of urban watersheds in Houston, TX, USA. Five land-use types were categorized and the contribution of LID facilities to reducing DCIA in each type was estimated by using Sutherland's equations. The results showed (1) DCIA in commercial areas was greater than that in residential areas, especially for big-box retailers; (2) the percentage of DCIA reduction by LID varied by land-use type; and (3) optimal combinations of LID application could maximize the effectiveness of DCIA reduction. The results contribute to prioritizing land-use type for implementing LID practices and providing local governments with a useful measure to estimate runoff volume.     

Evaluating soundscape intentions in landscape architecture: a study of competition entries for a new cemetery in Järva,Stockholm

While soundscape is increasingly acknowledged within landscape planning and design discourse, there is little research that clarifies how soundscapes are actually dealt with in landscape architecture practice – partly owing to methodological insufficiencies. This paper, therefore, describes a model for evaluating soundscape treatment in landscape design proposals, focusing on three key aspects. With the dual aim of testing the model, and learning more about how soundscape is approached in practice, the paper spotlights a major design competition for a new cemetery in Sweden. The model proved fruitful and easy to apply. It showed that only limited attention was paid to soundscape in the competition as a whole, and was a useful means of pinpointing proposals where soundscape was fully considered as a design feature; one competition entry that did so is described in the paper. Discussions cover design practice, trends in the competition and model application.     

Cause,catalyst or conjunction? The influence of the Habitats Directive on policy instrument choice in Member States

In the process of implementing EU policy, Member States sometimes introduce new policy instruments in cases where this is not obligatory. To better understand this phenomenon, this paper reviews three cases in which new instruments emerged and develops a methodology to trace back the influence of EU Directives on instrument choice. The method is illustrated by a narrative of the emergence of new management planning instruments during the implementation of the EU Habitats Directive in three EU Member States: Finland, Hungary and the Netherlands. Three key features of a policy instrument are defined, namely, its authoritative force, action content and governance design. These are used to measure the contribution of the Habitats Directive compared to other potential explanatory causes for the emergence of the new policy instrument. In all three reviewed countries a nested causal relationship between the Habitats Directive and the introduction of the new policy instrument is identified. Based on the relative contribution of the Habitats Directive to the emergence of the new instrument a distinction is made whether the Directive acted as a cause, catalyst or if conjunction occurred.     

Manure placement depth impacts on crop yields and N retained in soil

The objective of this study was to determine the impact of manure placement depth on crop yield and N retention in soil. Experimental treatments were deep manure injection (45 cm), shallow manure injection (15 cm), and conventional fertilizer-based management with at least three replications per site. Water infiltration, and changes in soil N and P amounts were measured for up to 30 months and crop yield monitored for three seasons following initial treatment. Deep and shallow manure injections differed in soil inorganic N distributions. For example, in the manure slot the spring following application, NO₃-N in the surface 60 cm was higher (p < .01) when injected 15 cm (21.4 μ g/g) into the soil than 45 cm (11.7 μ g/g), whereas NH₄-N had opposite results with shallow injection having less (p = 0.045) NH₄-N (102 μ g/g) than deep (133 μ g/g) injection. In the fall one year after the manure was applied, NO₃-N and NH₄-N were lower (p = 0.001) in the shallow injection than the deep injection. The net impact of manure placement on total N was that deep injection had 31, 59, and 44 more kg N ha^{? 1} than the shallow injection treatment 12, 18, and 30 months after application, respectively. Deep manure injection did not impact soybean (Glycine max L.) yield, however corn (Zea mays L.) yield increased if N was limiting. The higher corn yield in the deep injected treatment was attributed to increased N use efficiency. Higher inorganic N amounts in the deep injection treatment were attributed to reduced N losses through ammonia volatilization, leaching, or denitrification. Results suggest that deep manure placement in glacial till soil may be considered a technique to increase energy, N use efficiency, and maintain surface and ground water quality. However, this technique may not work in glacial outwash soils due to the inability to inject into a rocky subsurface.     

利用沉水植物生长期收割进行富营养化水体生态管理的实地研究

在以再生水为补水水源的圆明园玉玲珑水域进行沉水植物收割实验,自2011年4—12月间每隔半个月监测一次水质。结果表明,通过在生长期收割沉水植物,玉玲珑水体TP、SRP、TN、NH4+-N、NO3--N和COD的平均浓度可维持在0.1、0.04、0.86、0.1、0.32和18 mg/L左右,水质保持在Ⅲ类至Ⅳ类地表水之间;与之对照的不收割沉水植物的玉玲珑进水口水域,9月沉水植物开始死亡腐烂,TP、SRP、TN、NH4+-N最高分别可达0.5、0.1、2.4和0.60 mg/L;作为对照的另一以挺水植物为主的水域,水质普遍劣于有大量沉水植物生长的水域,TP、SRP、TN、NH4+-N最高分别可达1.2、0.60、6.1和0.61mg/L。圆明园的实地实验表明,沉水植物有很强的净化水质作用,通过生长期收割,能够进一步强化其水质净化作用,可以作为一项对富营养化水体进行生态管理的有效措施进行推广。     

壳牌公司的环境评价技术方法和应用研究

文章从信息收集、环境危害评价、环境影响控制、应急恢复、HSE例卷管理等方面,分析了壳牌公司环境评价的概念和应用领域,总结了壳牌公司环境管理的经验,并据此提出了改进我国石油石化企业环境管理的若干建议。     

An Ex Post Evaluation of Ohio’s Great Miami Water Quality Trading Program1

Newburn, David A. and Richard T. Woodward, 2011. An Ex Post Evaluation of Ohio’s Great Miami Water Quality Trading Program. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(1): 156‐169. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2011.00601.x Abstract: Market‐based approaches to address water quality problems have resulted in only limited success, especially in trading programs involving both point and nonpoint sources. We analyze one of the largest point‐nonpoint trading programs – the Great Miami Trading Program in Ohio, administered by the Miami Conservancy District (MCD). Our evaluation focuses on the economic and institutional aspects of the program, including cost effectiveness, efficiency of bidding, transaction costs, trading ratios, and innovation. We use a unique dataset consisting of all bids from agricultural nonpoint sources and interviews of soil and water conservation district (SWCD) agents in the watershed. We find that the MCD’s reliance on county‐level SWCD offices to recruit and advise farmers has been essential to achieve relatively high rates of farmer participation. Additionally, the MCD is able to partly free ride on the administrative costs that SWCD offices receive to assist federal conservation programs, which is helpful to lower costs for a fledgling trading program. However, the involvement of SWCD offices reduced the potential cost savings from the reverse auction structure because some agents were able to learn about the threshold price over the six rounds of bidding and help farmers bid strategically. Overall, the program structure serves as an effective model for future trading programs in other regions that seek to involve agricultural nonpoint sources.     

Is Urban Stream Restoration Worth It?1

Kenney, Melissa A., Peter R. Wilcock, Benjamin F. Hobbs, Nicholas E. Flores, and Daniela C. Martínez, 2012. Is Urban Stream Restoration Worth It? Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(3): 603-615. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2011.00635.x Abstract: Public investment in urban stream restoration is growing, yet little has been done to quantify whether its benefits outweigh its cost. The most common drivers of urban stream projects are water quality improvement and infrastructure protection, although recreational and aesthetic benefits are often important community goals. We use standard economic methods to show that these contributions of restoration can be quantified and compared to costs. The approach is demonstrated with a case study in Baltimore, Maryland, a city with a legal mandate to reduce its pollutant load. Typical urban stream restoration costs of US$500-1,200 per foot are larger than the cost of the least expensive alternatives for management of nitrogen loads from stormwater (here, detention ponds, equivalent to $30-120 per foot of restored stream) and for protecting infrastructure (rip-rap armoring of streambanks, at $0-120 per foot). However, the higher costs of stream restoration can in some cases be justified by its aesthetic and recreational benefits, valued using a contingent valuation survey at $560-1,100 per foot. We do not intend to provide a definitive answer regarding the worth of stream restoration, but demonstrate that questions of worth can be asked and answered. Broader application of economic analysis would provide a defensible basis for understanding restoration benefits and for making restoration decisions.