Quantitative Pollution Spill Risk Assessment: Using A Gis-Based System

Federal and State agencies have recently advocated risk-based analysis as a mechanism for advancing regulatory reform and safety determination in marine systems. the present investigation promotes this objective through the development of risk-based environmental planning strategies for oil spill contingency plans. This alternative approach to contingency planning departs from conventional methodology by employing quantitative risk assessment methods to identify hazardous oil spill zones and sensitive environmental areas, R_o and R_e respectively. the product of this conversion is referenced on a single “Risk” layer within a Geographic Information System (GIS) framework allowing coastal managers to evaluate natural resource data with associated elements of oil spill risk. As a new tool for coastal pollution management, risk-based environmental planning strategies have shown potential for evolving more efficient oil spill contingency plans.     

Climate change adaptation,mitigation and livelihood benefits in coffee production: where are the synergies?

There are worldwide approximately 4.3 million coffee (Coffea arabica) producing smallholders generating a large share of tropical developing countries’ gross domestic product, notably in Central America. Their livelihoods and coffee production are facing major challenges due to projected climate change, requiring adaptation decisions that may range from changes in management practices to changes in crops or migration. Since management practices such as shade use and reforestation influence both climate vulnerability and carbon stocks in coffee, there may be synergies between climate change adaptation and mitigation that could make it advantageous to jointly pursue both objectives. In some cases, carbon accounting for mitigation actions might even be used to incentivize and subsidize adaptation actions. To assess potential synergies between climate change mitigation and adaptation in smallholder coffee production systems, we quantified (i) the potential of changes in coffee production and processing practices as well as other livelihood activities to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions, (ii) coffee farmers’ climate change vulnerability and need for adaptation, including the possibility of carbon markets subsidizing adaptation. We worked with smallholder organic coffee farmers in Northern Nicaragua, using workshops, interviews, farm visits and the Cool Farm Tool software to calculate greenhouse gas balances of coffee farms. From the 12 activities found to be relevant for adaptation, two showed strong and five showed modest synergies with mitigation. Afforestation of degraded areas with coffee agroforestry systems and boundary tree plantings resulted in the highest synergies between adaptation and mitigation. Financing possibilities for joint adaptation-mitigation activities could arise through carbon offsetting, carbon insetting, and carbon footprint reductions. Non-monetary benefits such as technical assistance and capacity building could be effective in promoting such synergies at low transaction costs.     

Scanning Electron Microscopy of Humic Substances Produced During Cellulose Decomposition

Humic substances (HS) produced during the aerobic decomposition of polysaccharides still need to be recognized as such and characterized. Humic (HA) and fulvic (FA) acids extracted at different time intervals during composting of cotton residues from carding, where no decomposition of lignin occurred, were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) size exclusion chromatography and infrared spectroscopy. Throughout the experiment, fulvic acids possessed a larger number of carboxyl groups but a lower number of weak acidic groups (negatively charged acid groups at pH 11) than humic acids. the number of carboxyl groups increased with time in both fulvic and humic acids, while that of phenolic groups decreased. Infrared spectra showed that the ratio between carboxyl and methyl groups decreased from 8.5 to 4 in FA after 18 days. This change corresponded with the disappearance of flat sheet structures observed by SEM at pH 6. Our results suggest that the shape of humic molecules as observed by SEM reflects the strength of hydrophilic/hydrophobic interactions with the solvent molecules. About 80% of FA molecules had a molecular weight lower than 3500 as deduced from column calibration with HS standards obtained by ultrafiltration. About 40% of humic acids were composed of small molecules; only 20% HA had a molecular weight larger than 45000. Polysaccharide-derived HS may not be limited to the high molecular weight poorly transformed fraction containing bonded polysaccharide structures, but may also consist of low molecular weight components with no structural similarity to the original material.     

Quantitative Pollution Spill Risk Assessment: Using A Gis-Based System

Federal and State agencies have recently advocated risk-based analysis as a mechanism for advancing regulatory reform and safety determination in marine systems. the present investigation promotes this objective through the development of risk-based environmental planning strategies for oil spill contingency plans. This alternative approach to contingency planning departs from conventional methodology by employing quantitative risk assessment methods to identify hazardous oil spill zones and sensitive environmental areas, R_o and R_e respectively. the product of this conversion is referenced on a single “Risk” layer within a Geographic Information System (GIS) framework allowing coastal managers to evaluate natural resource data with associated elements of oil spill risk. As a new tool for coastal pollution management, risk-based environmental planning strategies have shown potential for evolving more efficient oil spill contingency plans.