Progress and challenges in consolidating the management of Amazonian protected areas and indigenous territories

Effective management refers to the ability of a protected area or indigenous territory to meet its objectives, particularly as they relate to the protection of biodiversity and forest cover. Effective management is achieved through a process of consolidation, which among other things requires legally protecting sites, integrating sites into land‐use planning, developing and implementing management and resource‐use plans, and securing long‐term funding to pay for recurrent costs. Effectively managing all protected areas and indigenous territories in the Amazon may be needed to avoid a deforestation tipping point beyond which regional climatic feedbacks and global climate change interact to catalyze irreversible drying and savannization of large areas. At present, protected areas and indigenous territories cover 45.5% (3.55 million km²) of the Amazon, most of the 60–70% forest cover required to maintain hydrologic and climatic function. Three independent evaluations of a long‐term large‐scale philanthropic initiative in the Amazon yielded insights into the challenges and advances toward achieving effective management of protected areas and indigenous territories. Over the life of the initiative, management of sites has improved considerably, particularly with respect to management planning and capacity building, but few sites are effectively managed and many lack sufficient long‐term financing, adequate governance, support of nongovernmental organizations, and the means to withstand economic pressures. The time and money required to complete consolidation is still poorly understood, but it is clear that philanthropic funding is critical so long as essential funding needs are not met by governments and other sources, which could be on the order of decades. Despite challenges, it is encouraging that legal protection has expanded greatly and management of sites is improving steadily. Management of protected areas in other developing countries could be informed by improvements that have occurred in Amazonian countries.     

Toward harmonizing prospective effectiveness assessment for road safety: Comparing tools in standard test case simulations

Abstract

Objective: With the overall goal to harmonize prospective effectiveness assessment of active safety systems, the specific objective of this study is to identify and evaluate sources of variation in virtual precrash simulations and to suggest topics for harmonization resulting in increased comparability and thus trustworthiness of virtual simulation-based prospective effectiveness assessment.

Methods: A round-robin assessment of the effectiveness of advanced driver assistance systems was performed using an array of state-of-the-art virtual simulation tools on a set of standard test cases. The results were analyzed to examine reasons for deviations in order to identify and assess aspects that need to be harmonized and standardized. Deviations between results calculated by independent engineering teams using their own tools should be minimized if the research question is precisely formulated regarding input data, models, and postprocessing steps.

Results: Two groups of sources of variations were identified; one group (mostly related to the implementation of the system under test) can be eliminated by using a more accurately formulated research question, whereas the other group highlights further harmonization needs because it addresses specific differences in simulation tool setups. Time-to-collision calculations, vehicle dynamics, especially braking behavior, and hit-point position specification were found to be the main sources of variation.

Conclusions: The study identified variations that can arise from the use of different simulation setups in assessment of the effectiveness of active safety systems. The research presented is a first of its kind and provides significant input to the overall goal of harmonization by identifying specific items for standardization. Future activities aim at further specification of methods for prospective assessments of the effectiveness of active safety, which will enhance comparability and trustworthiness in this kind of studies and thus contribute to increased traffic safety.     

Spatial cost efficiency in waste paper handling: the case of corrugated board in Sweden

This paper analyzes the spatial cost efficiency of the Swedish legislation regarding waste disposal handling. We focus on the case of corrugated board and recognize that the different counties in Sweden possess different economic prerequisites in terms of waste paper recovery and utilization potential. We employ data for six corrugated board mills and 20 counties and a non-linear programming model to identify the least cost strategy for reaching the politically specified recycling target of a 65% recovery rate for corrugated board. That is, the total costs of recovering a minimum of 65% in each county are calculated and compared with the case when the country as a whole recovers 65% of all old corrugated board is collected but there exist no uniform target for each county. The conclusion is that from an efficiency point of view the recovery efforts should be concentrated to the highly populated and urbanized counties, and not be uniformly divided throughout the country. In the base case, the results suggest that the cost efficient county-specific recovery rates should range from 51 to 72%.     

Treatability studies of naphthalene in soil,water and air with persulfate activated by iron(Ⅱ)

Chemical oxidation was applied to an artificially contaminated soil with naphthalene (NAP). Evaluation of NAP distribution and mass reduction in soil, water and air phases was carried out through mass balance. Evaluation of NAP distribution and mass reduction in soil, water and air phases was carried out through mass balance. The importance of the air phase analysis was emphasized by demonstrating how NAP behaves in a sealed system over a 4 hr reaction period. Design of Experiments method was applied to the following variables: sodium persulfate concentration [SP], ferrous sulfate concentration [FeSO₄], and pH. The system operated with a prefixed solid to liquid ratio of 1:2. The following conditions resulted in optimum NAP removal [SP] = 18.37 g/L, [FeSO₄] = 4.25 g/L and pH = 3.00. At the end of the 4 hr reaction, 62% of NAP was degraded. In the soil phase, the chemical oxidation reduced the NAP concentration thus achieving levels which comply with Brazilian and USA environmental legislations. Besides the NAP partitioning view, the monitoring of each phase allowed the variabilities assessment over the process, refining the knowledge of mass reduction. Based on NAP distribution in the system, this study demonstrates the importance of evaluating the presence of semi-volatile and volatile organic compounds in the air phase during remediation, so that there is greater control of the system as to the distribution and presence of the contaminant in the environment. The results highlight the importance of treating the contaminant in all its phases at the contaminated site.     

Preparation of solar-enhanced AlZnO@carbon nano-substrates for remediation of textile wastewaters

Photoactive aluminum doped ZnO(AlZnO) was synthesized by sol-gel method.After that,AlZnO photocatalyst was deposited on five carbon-based materials(CBMs) using ultrasonic route followed by solid-state mixing using ball mill.The CBMs used were poly aniline(PANI),carbon nitride(CN),carbon nanotubes(CNT),graphene(G),and carbon nanofibers(CNF).The crystal phases,elemental compositions,morphological,and optical properties of the AlZnO@CBMs composites were investigated.Experimental results revealed that two of AlZnO@CBMs composites exhibited superior bleaching efficiency(100% removal) and photocatalytic stability(three cycles) for 50 μmol/L Methylene Blue(MB) contaminated water after 60 min irradiation in visible light at pH 6.5,0.7% H_2O_2,and 5 g/L inorganic salts.Under optimum conditions,AlZnO@CBMs nanocomposites were employed for the treatment of mixed dyestuffs composed of MB,Methyl Orange(MO),Astrazone Blue FRR(BB 69),and Rhodamine B(RhB) dyes under dark,ultraviolet,visible,and direct sunlight.For mixed dyestuffs,the AlZnO@G achieved the highest dye sorption capacity(60.91 μmol dye stuffs/g) with kinetic rate 8.22 × 10~(-3) min~(-1) in 90 min via multi-layer physisorption(Freundlich isotherm) on graphene sheet.In additions,AlZnO@CN offered the highest photo-kinetic rate(K_(photo)) of～54.1 × 10~(-3) min~(-1)(93.8% after 60 min) under direct sunlight.Furthermore,the selective radical trapping experiment confirmed that the holes and oxidative superoxide radicals are crucial on dyes photodegradation pathway.Owing to their superior performance,AlZnO@G and AlZnO@CN nanocomposites can offer an effective in-situ solar-assisted adsorption/photocatalytic remediation of textile wastewater effluents.     

底泥原位洗脱过程中氮磷含量与形态变化特征

随着城市化进程的不断推进,城市河流底泥中内源氮磷污染问题日益突出.为研究原位洗脱技术对污染底泥中氮、磷物质和成分的作用效果,以北京市凉水河作为研究对象,分别比较了现场试验洗脱与对照组0~30 cm分层底泥以及实验室模拟洗脱处理前后0~10 cm底泥中pH、E_h（氧化还原电位）、容重、含水率、OM（有机质）、TN、TP和氮、磷形态分布的变化特征.结果表明:①现场洗脱对0~5 cm厚度底泥的处理和模拟洗脱处理均对底泥中pH、E_h、含水率的改变以及其中TN、TP的去除效果表现显著,其中,现场试验洗脱组0~5 cm范围底泥中w（TN）、w（TP）分别较对照组降低了66.4%±17.4%、40.8%±24.4%,模拟洗脱处理对底泥中OM、TN、TP的去除率分别达70.1%±4.8%、66.8%±2.0%、43.1%±3.1%.②原位洗脱技术对底泥中TN的去除主要通过对PON（颗粒态有机氮）的去除来实现,现场和模拟试验过程中PON对TN去除的贡献率分别达55.0%和73.6%.③原位洗脱对底泥中TP的去除主要通过对Al-P（铝结合态磷）、OP（有机磷）的去除来实现,现场和模拟试验中Al-P、OP对TP去除的贡献率分别达37.0%、66.2%和31.3%、43.7%.研究显示,原位洗脱技术可有效去除城市河流底泥处理层中的氮磷物质,并以有机氮、磷物质的去除为主.      

土壤调理剂对土壤-水稻系统Cd、Zn迁移累积的影响及健康风险评价

选取湖南省长沙市北山镇某中重度Cd污染稻田,研究了土壤调理剂(石灰石+偏高岭土+钙镁磷肥)对稻田土壤重金属Cd、Zn的钝化效果,以及对水稻各部位累积Cd和Zn的影响,并进行了Cd的健康风险评价.结果表明,使用土壤调理剂提高了稻田土壤p H值.Cd的CaCl_2提取态含量降低了0.9%~24.1%,Zn的CaCl_2提取态含量降低了22.5%~69.6%.土壤调理剂显著降低了水稻糙米中Cd与Zn的含量,与对照相比分别降低了10.8%~47.3%、10.3%~17.5%;土壤调理剂对水稻糙米Cd的吸收和累积的影响要远大于Zn,水稻糙米中的Cd/Zn比随着土壤调理剂施用量的增加而显著降低.研究区大米重金属Cd目标危害系数THQ值大于1,说明当地人群通过食用大米途径摄入重金属Cd存在健康风险.土壤调理剂有效地抑制了水稻植株对土壤中Cd的吸收,并降低了Cd/Zn比,使糙米中的Cd含量显著降低,从而降低了当地人群通过食用大米途径摄入重金属Cd的健康风险.     

表面活性剂增强修复地下水中PCE的砂箱实验及模拟

在石英砂充填的二维砂箱中开展表面活性剂（Tween 80）冲洗四氯乙烯（PCE）的修复实验,基于图像分析技术监测不同污染源区结构条件下NAPL相的去除过程.由于实验条件限制,实验中缺乏溶解相浓度数据.为此进一步基于UTCHEM数值模拟方法来理解NAPL相和溶解态之间的质量传输过程,并探讨表面活性剂浓度、注入速率等因素对修复效率的影响.综合砂箱实验和数值模拟结果表明：介质均质和非均质条件下会形成不同类型DNAPL污染源区结构,表现为离散状PCE与池状PCE体积比（GTP）差异.由于离散状污染物与表面活性剂的接触面积更大,更易被优先去除;初始GTP值越高,污染物的修复速率和修复效率也越高.增大表面活性剂浓度或提高表面活性剂的注入速率,虽然能提高DNAPL的修复速率,但会明显降低表面活性剂的修复效率,实验过程中修复效率降幅可达93%.线性驱动溶解模型可以有效地模拟表面活性剂修复DNAPLs过程,基于数值模拟方法选择合适的表面活性剂配比可有效的节省实际污染场址修复经费和时间成本.     

Assessing protected area effectiveness using surrounding (buffer) areas environmentally similar to the target area

Many studies are based on the assumption that an area and its surrounding (buffer) area present similar environmental conditions and can be compared. For example, in order to assess the effectiveness of a protected area, the land use/cover changes are compared inside the park with its surroundings. However, the heterogeneity in spatial variables can bias this assessment: we have shown that most of the protected areas in Mexico present significant environmental differences between their interior and their surroundings. Therefore, a comparison that aims at assessing the effectiveness of conservation strategies, must be cautioned. In this paper, a simple method which allows the generation of a buffer area that presents similar conditions with respect to a set of environmental variables is presented. The method was used in order to assess the effectiveness of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, a protected area located in the south-eastern part of Mexico. The annual rate of deforestation inside the protected area, the standard buffer area (based upon distance from the protected area only) and the similar buffer area (taking into account distance along with some environmental variables) were 0.3, 1.3 and 0.6%, respectively. These results showed that the protected area was effective in preventing land clearing, but that the comparison with the standard buffer area gave an over-optimistic vision of its effectiveness.