Transitioning towards cleaner cooking fuels: an analysis of consumer preferences in Ghana’s cookstoves market

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Globally, attention has been paid to policies that promote the manufacturing, distribution, and usage of ‘cleaner stoves’ to minimise the...     

Comparing land change from shale gas infrastructure development in neighboring Utica and Marcellus regions, 2006–2015

The emergent patterns of land change resulting from the development of shale oil and gas infrastructure is a result of many small decisions and interactions. This research focuses on the land change associated with the development of shale oil and gas infrastructure in the Marcellus and Utica shale formations in two geographically proximate and physically similar counties, Carroll County, OH, and Washington County, PA. Land-cover data used to measure feature-scale change were digitized from aerial photography and then used to update National Land Cover Dataset data used in the calculation of forest fragmentation for the entire study areas. The amount and pattern of land change was very similar between the two counties even though they are drawing oil and gas from different shale formations. Less than 1% of the total forest for each county was lost but the fragmentation impacts are amplified by the pattern of infrastructure on the landscape.     

Environmental impact assessment application in infrastructural projects in Malawi

The current increase in the number of development projects in Malawi is leading to loss of natural resources and the general degradation of the environment. Both the Malawi Environmental Management Act of 1996 and the Guidelines for Environmental Impact Assessment of 1997, prescribe a list of infrastructural projects that must undergo environmental impact assessment (EIA) before their implementation. This study identifies the key limitations of EIA application to infrastructural projects in Malawi. A desktop study used to gather information in this study involved a review of several documents such as EIA reports, policies and laws, books, journals and internet articles. Primary data was obtained from policymakers, contractors, EIA practitioners and the general public using both structured and unstructured interviews, as well as through questionnaires. Focus group discussions and direct observations were employed wherever necessary in the study. Major limitations to successful EIA in infrastructural projects in Malawi include: (1) limited experience and practice of EIA practitioners; (2) cost of EIA process; (3) limited links between EIA and urban planning procedures; (4) lack of political will; (5) project delays; (6) lack of effective monitoring and auditing, (7) lack of data, especially those to be used in predictive models. This violates the principles of sustainability science and the international best practices for EIA that were developed by the International Association for Impact Assessment. It is recommended that active environmental management should actively involve the interests of all stakeholders, and that follow up of predicted environmental impacts resulting from any project should entail monitoring, auditing and reporting.