The time-varying factors influencing the recycling rate of products

In Europe targets have been laid down by EU legislation for the recycling rate of end-of-life vehicles to be achieved within the nearby future. It is illustrated in this paper that the definition of the recycling rate and the realisation of the imposed targets are very much dependent on different parameters such as the changing lifetime of the product and product design. It may seem obvious that the recycling rate is determined by various time-varying factors, however, this paper endeavours to describe and quantify the role of these factors on the recycling rate over time by the use of a dynamic systems model. This model permits the prediction of the recycling rate as a function of the numerous presented parameters, changing design scenarios etc. In addition, different definitions of the recycling rate will be presented and discussed. This will lead to a better understanding of the parameters affecting the recycling system and a more precise understanding of the recycling targets and their realisation as imposed by EU legislation. This paper focuses on cars, but the discussion and the definitions derived are equally valid for any end-of-life product.     

State wetlands and riparian area protection programs

The protection of wetlands and riparian areas has emerged as an important environmental planning issue. In the United States, several federal and state laws have been enacted to protect wetlands and riparian areas. Specifically, the federal Clean Water Act includes protection requirements in Sections 301 and 303 for state water quality standards, Section 401 for state certification of federal actions (projects, permits, and licenses), and Section 404 for dredge and fill permits. The Section 401 water quality state certification element has been called the “sleeping giant” of wetlands protection because it empowers state officials to veto or condition federally permitted or licensed activities that do not comply with state water quality standards. State officials have used this power infrequently. The purpose of this research was to analyze the effectiveness of state wetland and riparian programs. Contacts were established with officials in each state and in the national and regional offices of key federal agencies. Based on interviews and on a review of federal and state laws, state program effectiveness was analyzed. From this analysis, several problems and opportunities facing state wetland protection efforts are presented.     

Evolutionary or fragmented environmental policy making? coal,power, and agriculture in the Hunter Valley,Australia

Intensified surface mining, power generation, and smelting operations in the Hunter River lowlands, NSW, Australia have posed numerous new environmental management problems. Legislative controls over water, soils, and land use management have been clearly insufficient and remain so. The complex range of environmental changes is challenging government agencies as well as coal developers. While water demands are increasing in the region the proportionally greatest competitors are power generation and irrigation. Comprehensive regional water quality assessment is inadequate and divided between a number of agencies with fragmentary interests. Coal development inquiries signal further controversy over appropriate management solutions and are an ongoing phenomenon in the region. The early 1980s resource boom has been followed by lower rates of economic growth, which have resulted in disparate agency responses to major ongoing environmental questions. While issue attention cycles are often remarkably short in environmental management, matters of water, land, and air quality require intensive and ongoing monitoring and policy development.     

EVALUATING THE OPTIONS FOR WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT1

ABSTRACT: The agricultural revolution occurred because the un-managed environment was not providing food in either the quantity or quality that society desired. The “environmental revolution” is developing because the unmanaged environment is clearly not capable of assimilating societal wastes without being seriously degraded. Effective environmental management will require regional and site-specific modification of general principles and practices that can be used at a national or international level. An environmental management system can be operated in the same manner as any industrial quality control system with three basic components: (a) sensors at appropriate locations, (b) rapid generation and feedback of information, and (c) a quality control group capable of taking immediate effective action when system performance is outside predetermined boundary conditions. This discussion focuses primarily on three areas: (a) management options available to regulate intrusion of societal wastes into natural systems, (b) types of methods available for predicting and validating effects on natural systems, and (c) modifications of present legislation that would permit the most flexibility in selecting from the various management options. Also considered are multispecies toxicity tests using species with cosmopolitan distribution in test systems with a high degree of environmental realism. Among the many values of such tests is the ability to exchange information from all parts of the world effectively because the test organisms are not restricted to a particular geographic region.     

Invasives, Introductions and Acidification: The Dynamics of a Stressed River Fish Community

We describe the development of the fish community in the acidified and limed river Litleåna in southern Norway, and describe how chemical restoration, compensatory introductions of exotics, and accidental invasion of exotics interact to influence the population of the naturally occurring brown trout (Salmo trutta). The river Litleåna is a tributary to the river Kvina in Vest-Agder County, southern Norway. During the years 1996–2004, annual mean pH was 4.9–5.0 and 6.1–6.4 above and below the liming facility, which was installed in 1994. Originally, brown trout was the only fish species in the river, but brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) have been intentionally introduced, whereas European minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus) was introduced by accident. Fish densities were recorded by means of electrofishing annually over the ten year period 1995–2004. Although close to extinction before liming was initiated, brown trout fry densities increased from 1995 to 1999, with subsequent varying densities. There has been a simultaneous major increase in the occurrence and density of European minnow since 1997. Our results show that both brown trout and European minnow increase after liming. Minnow densities are negatively affected by low pH episodes in the river. The growth rates of brown trout fry are negatively correlated to minnow densities, indicating competition between the species. Brook trout densities have decreased since liming started, and during the brown trout recovery.     

Application of the DPSIR framework to environmental degradation assessment in northern Ghana

In many communities in northern Ghana, the environment has been altered by complex natural and human driven forces with significant impact on the lives of their inhabitants. The need to formulate an improved, holistic and consistent methodological approach to assess the problem is critical for sustainable natural resource management. This paper examines the potential of the DPSIR environmental assessment framework utilizing GIS‐based participatory methodology in the assessment of environmental degradation in northern Ghana. Community truthing tools such as key informant interviews, focus group discussions, participant observation and participatory Geographical Information Systems (GIS) were employed as a means of soliciting societal responses integrated to conventional GIS spatial analysis to measure the indicators of the Driving force–Pressure–State–Impacts–Response (DPSIR) assessment framework. Post classification GIS imagery results show a marked natural vegetation decrease of 634 km2 (42%) of the study area with a corresponding increase of 600 km² (39%) of grasses and built‐up and barren environment in the period of 14 years from 1990 to 2004. This is attributed to extreme climatic conditions and human driven causes such as poverty, population growth, migration and land tenure system. Poverty reduction strategies, amendment of the Mining and Mineral Law (PNDC law 153), improvement of the existing land tenure system and the control of migrants and Fulani herdsmen from neighbouring Burkina Faso were some of the solutions selected by the research participants, to be emphasized in the National Environmental Action Plan (EPA Act 490). This paper concludes that the DPSIR environmental assessment framework is an effective means of organizing complex environmental information to facilitate policy decision making.     

Transaction costs and the clean development mechanism

The emissions trading provisions of the Kyoto Protocol and its clean development mechanism (CDM) are designed to permit greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions at the lowest cost globally. However, to ensure climate integrity, these reductions must pass through vigilant approval, monitoring and evaluation procedures that create additional transaction costs unrelated to the physical process of eliminating GHGs. Moreover, the CDM's additionality criterion creates constraints that magnify the influence of these transaction costs on project viability. If these costs are extreme, they could undermine the success of the CDM, and possibly of the Kyoto Protocol itself. This article describes the trading provisions of the treaty, creates a working definition of transaction costs, and discusses their effects. It then analyzes the process of creating a CDM project to identify the sources of transaction costs, illustrated by an example of a fuel substitution project in Ghana. The conditions for project profitability are analyzed and compared with recent GHG emission credit prices in Europe. The specific Ghanaian results are not generalizable to all CDM projects, but the model does suggest a template that can be used to analyze the effects of project and transaction costs in other contexts.     

论企业参与污染物排放标准制定的法律保障

企业参与污染物排放标准的制定是提高标准实效性的手段,问题在于怎样的法律设置才能保障企业参与的权利同时规制企业的参与行为。文章首先论证得出法律保障企业参与的必要性,即通过立法保障企业的参与符合国内外参与型行政理论;具有提高排放标准的制定效率、减少企业参与负面影响的现实必要性;同时有助于将标准行政主管部门与企业间的利益权衡前置,增强标准制定的针对性和可操作性。文章同时分析了实现企业有效参与对相关立法的应然要求及我国现行法律规制不同程度的缺失;企业参与阶段、征求意见的执行、排放标准制定过程的监督机制等方面存在的问题,并最终提出以完善标准化法及相关管理办法为途径,充分保障企业的参与权利、程序性规制其参与行为、明确各参与主体的法律责任、完善司法救济和配套制度等立法建议。     

珠江口及毗邻海域环境保护相关立法研究

针对珠江口及毗邻海域日益严峻的环境污染与生态破坏问题,本文从完善相关的海洋环境保护立法角度出发,通过分析我国现有海洋环境法律法规的不足和缺陷,结合珠江口及毗邻海域在经济发展和环境保护中遇到的实际问题,提出了制定该区域海洋环境管理条例、海岸带管理条例、人海河口区水环境质量标准、海洋环境质量标准以及修改<广东省水污染物排放...     

Direct calorimetry of free-moving eels with manipulated thyroid status

In birds and mammals, the thyroid gland secretes the iodothyronine hormones of which tetraiodothyronine (T4) is less active than triiodothyronine (T3). The action of T3 and T4 is calorigenic and is involved in the control of metabolic rate. Across all vertebrates, thyroid hormones also play a major role in differentiation, development and growth. Although the fish thyroidal system has been researched extensively, its role in thermogenesis is unclear. In this study, we measured overall heat production to an accuracy of 0.1 mW by direct calorimetry in a free-moving European eel (Anguilla anguilla L.) with different thyroid status. Hyperthyroidism was induced by injection of T3 and T4, and hypothyroidism was induced with phenylthiourea. The results show for the first time at the organismal level, using direct calorimetry, that neither overall heat production nor overall oxygen consumption in eels is affected by hyperthyroidism. Therefore, we conclude that the thermogenic metabolism-stimulating effect of thyroid hormones (TH) is not present with a cold-blooded fish species like the European eel. This supports the concept that TH does not stimulate thermogenesis in poikilothermic species.