Emergy analysis applied to the estimation of the recovery of costs for water services under the European Water Framework Directive

In this paper, the European Union's Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC (WFD) that is intended to foster protection of water resources is examined, focusing on the improvement of ecological and chemical quality of surface and groundwater. The WFD includes the concept of full cost recovery (FCR) in accordance with the Polluter-Pays Principle, as one of the tools of an adequate and sustainable water resource management system. The WFD defines three different costs associated with water: resource costs (RC), financial costs (FC), and environmental costs (ECs).The FCR of water is examined from a biophysical perspective using emergy evaluation to: (1) establish resource values of water from different sources, (2) establish the full economic costs associated with supplying water, and (3) the societal costs of water that is used incorrectly; from which the resource costs, financial costs, and environmental costs, respectively, can be computed. Financial costs are the costs associated with providing water including energy, materials, labor and infrastructure. The emergy based monetary values vary between 0.15 and 1.73 €/m³ depending on technology. The emergy based, global average resource value (from which resource costs can be computed) is derived from two aspects of water: its chemical potential and its geopotential. The chemical potential monetary value of different sources such as rain, groundwater, and surface water derived from global averages of emergy inputs varies from 0.03 to 0.18 €/m³, depending on source, and the geopotential values vary from 0.03 to 2.40 €/m³, depending on location in the watershed. The environmental costs of water were averaged for the county of Spain and were 1.42 €/m³.Time of year and spatial location within the watershed ultimately influence the resource costs (computed from emergy value of chemical potential and geopotential energy) of water. To demonstrate this spatial and temporal variability, a case study is presented using the Foix watershed in northeastern Spain. Throughout the year, the resource value of water varies from 0.21 to 3.17 €/m³, depending on location within the watershed. It is concluded that FCR would benefit from the evaluation of resource costs using spatially and temporally explicit emergy accounting.     

Re-examining the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) for India via the multiple threshold NARDL procedure

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Irrespective of the vast array of empirical evaluations pertaining to the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis, both for India and other...     

Nexus among electricity consumption,foreign direct investment and aggregate economic activity towards Nigeria’s economic performance: evidence from a trivariate causality model

It is evident that there is nexus among electricity consumption, foreign direct investment and aggregate economic activity. Unfortunately, the causal relationship among the three variables in Nigeria based on modern econometric methods, recent time-series data and ways that sufficiently cater for inflation and population growth has not been adequately investigated. This study, among other things, used a trivariate vector error correction model, autoregressive distributed lag bounds test for cointegration and Granger causality test to analyse the causal relationship among electricity consumption, foreign direct investment and aggregate economic activity based on time-series data from 1970 to 2018. The study found the presence of neutral causality between electricity consumption and aggregate economic activity in the short run as well as unidirectional causality from aggregate economic activity to electricity consumption in the long run. The study also found the presence of unidirectional causality from foreign direct investment to electricity consumption as well as neutral causality between foreign direct investment and aggregate economic activity in both the short run and the long run. It is therefore recommended that steps should be taken to adequately increase foreign direct investment and aggregate economic activity in ways that will guarantee an optimal increase in electricity consumption in Nigeria.

     

Using a novel climate–water conflict vulnerability index to capture double exposures in Lake Chad

Climate variability is amongst an array of threats facing agricultural livelihoods, with its effects unevenly distributed. With resource conflict being increasingly recognised as one significant outcome of climate variability and change, understanding the underlying drivers that shape differential vulnerabilities in areas that are double-exposed to climate and conflict has great significance. Climate change vulnerability frameworks are rarely applied in water conflict research. This article presents a composite climate–water conflict vulnerability index based on a double exposure framework developed from advances in vulnerability and livelihood assessments. We apply the index to assess how the determinants of vulnerability can be useful in understanding climate variability and water conflict interactions and to establish how knowledge of the climate–conflict linked context can shape interventions to reduce vulnerability. We surveyed 240 resource users (farmers, fishermen and pastoralists) in seven villages on the south-eastern shores of Lake Chad in the Republic of Chad to collect data on a range of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity variables. Results suggest that pastoralists are more vulnerable in terms of climate-structured aggressive behaviour within a lake-based livelihoods context where all resource user groups show similar levels of exposure to climate variability. Our approach can be used to understand the human and environmental security components of vulnerability to climate change and to explore ways in which conflict-structured climate adaptation and climate-sensitive conflict management strategies can be integrated to reduce the vulnerability of populations in high-risk, conflict-prone environments.