Environmental science and policy

James Gustave Speth, pravnik po svom postdiplomskom obrazovanju, danas je profesor znanosti o okolišu na Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (Odjel šumarskih i okolišnih studija), New Haven, Conn. USA. Napisao je niz knjiga, koje su pobudile paÞnju, a jedna od posljednjih, koje su prethodile ovoj, je Speth and Haas, Global Environmental Governance (2006). Gus Speth bio je na èelu World Resources Institute (WRI, Washington, D.C. USA) do 1988., da bi nakon toga bio posljednji Amerikanac na èelu UNDP-a, programa Ujedinjenih naroda za razvoj. Taj program, kojem su od ustanovljenja uvijek na èelu bili administratori iz SAD-a, zemlje najveaeeg donatora, bila je agencija UN-a koja je se bavila investicijama u manje razvijene zemlje, posebno Afrike ("zemlje u razvoju"), podrÞavajuaei naèela trÞišne ekonomije i kapitalistièkog društvenog ureðenja. Još kao èelnik WRI-a bio je promotor amerièkog naèina privreðivanja i amerièkog poimanja slobodnog trÞišta. Nakon završetka djelovanja na èelu UNDP-a, zbog toga što su druge donatorske zemlje zatraÞile mjesto na èelu UNDP-a, vratio se na svoje alma mater sveuèilište Yale. Njegov se glas u meðunarodnim krugovima okolišara i danas èuje. Speth je istaknuti zgovornik okolišnih ekonomista (environmental economists) i, iako dobro poznaje ekološku ekonomiju (ecological economy) (usp. poglavlje 5, str. 117) i njene predstavnike, posebno Hermana Dalyja i Joshua Fairleya, on ih ne slijedi, veae traÞi drugaèije, inovativne pristupe u upravljanju okolišem, ali sve unutar reformiranog amerièkog kapitalizma.

Environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act are administered largely at the state level, with more or less enthusiasm, depending on the state. Here we examine the spatial distributions of four indicators of environmentalism: organizational membership, public opinion, Congressional representation and state-level environmental policy. Public support for environmental protection is strongest in the nation's northeast quadrant and the West Coast. The Dakotas, the intermountain West and the Deep South have the least concern. Level of environmentalism is largely explained by state levels of electricity consumption and education and inversely by political conservatism. Cultural traditions also apparently explain some of the variation across regions. #

Air quality crisis in cities is mainly due to vehicular emissions. Transportation systems are increasing everywhere and the improvements in technology are insufficient to counteract growth. This paper examines the effect of vehicular emission on urban air quality and human health, and focuses on the unique features of an Indian mega city regarding its air pollution. A fact-finding survey was conducted to evaluate the status of air pollution at traffic intersections and the problem arising out of vehicular emissions in the study area. All the key pollutants are in excess of permitted levels. The severe detrimental effects of this pollution are reviewed. The problems have reached threatening dimensions. Vulnerable analysis (VA) has been carried out to evaluate the air pollution stress at different locations within the study area. Options for controlling mobile sources emissions are discussed and a strategic motor vehicle control strategy has been proposed to mitigate the air pollution in the city. Replacement of old vehicles, reformulating diesel fuel, introduction of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and compressed natural gas (CNG), massive improvements in infrastructure and radical traffic management measures are among the actions that will need to be brought together to achieve this objective.

This alignment of equating the economic wealth of countries with colder and warmer eco-climatic zones is of course a gross simplification. Notable exceptions to equating developed countries, the North (which we equate with countries being members of the OECD) with geographical temperate or colder zones are: Australia, Japan, Mexico and the southern parts of United States of America which all have subtropical or even tropical zones. Exceptions to equating developing countries, the South, with subtropical and tropical zones are for example Mongolia and large parts of China which have temperate or cold zones.

Purpose
The purpose of this article is to examine the arguments in favor of a shift from value-added tax (VAT) or sales tax to a damage and value-added tax (DaVAT) partially based on the life cycle assessment (LCA) of goods and services. With this shift, goods and services that seriously harm the environment and human health will be priced up, those that impact them less will be priced down. The paper recalls the proposal made by De Camillis and Goralczyk (Int J Life Cycle Assess 18:263-272, 2013) to differentiate the VAT rate associated with products according to their environmental impacts over their life cycle. The paper suggests a new way to convert VAT into DaVAT, examines the operating principles of such a system, and considers its practical feasibility. The new policy tool based on LCA presented is intended to be applied to every country wishing to reform its consumption tax system in order to strive for a more sustainable future. Some aspects specific to countries having the same currency, notably the Euro zone, are also discussed.
Methods
The proposal of De Camillis and Goralczyk is discussed from the perspective of both environmental performance and compliance with LCA standards. To overcome the identified difficulties, a new way of adapting VAT (or consumption taxes in general) according to LCA is suggested. The proposal relies on three essential points: (i) apply VAT (or consumption taxes in general) to all goods and services and reduce its multiple rates to one single low rate (e.g., 3%) called uniform VAT (UVAT); (ii) add to UVAT a per-unit tax called global damage tax (GDT) calculated on the basis of environmental impacts assessed by means of specific or generic LCAs. In the case of potentially high-polluting products or industries, a specific LCA will be automatically imposed. The obligation to assess high-polluting activities already exists in many countries with, e.g., environmental impact studies, but the impacts are not necessarily evaluated by LCA; (iii) in order to reflect environmental, social, or ethical concerns specific to a country, another damage tax termed specific damage tax (SDT) is proposed that extends beyond LCA. DaVAT is the sum of UVAT, GDT, and SDT. DaVAT is conceived not as an additional burden but rather as a shift of taxation, as the rate of the old consumption taxes can decrease proportionally to the increase of GDT. DaVAT is also designed in such a way that the erosion of tax revenues, when pollutant would decline, is offset by the extension of the tax to all goods and services and by the possibility to gradually re-increase the UVAT rate when the number of highly polluting products decreases. Results and discussion The proposal is examined first from a theoretical point of view by considering which principles should be used to comply with LCA standards and general requirements of (environmental) tax policies. Four general principles emerge: consistency in the choice of the functional unit and in the characterization, normalization and weighting methods, transparency of information about the environmental score of the product, evolution capacity of the levers of the tax and of the assessment methods, respect for national sovereignty concerning the setting of the tax price. The proposal is also examined from a practical point of view by asking how the DaVAT system would work in practice. The answer takes into account associated costs, risks of fraud, price changes, and acceptability of the proposal. The issue about price changes is addressed on the basis of a simulation drawn from six published LCA studies on different products.

Comprehensive classification systems to accurately account for lands managed for biodiversity conservation, are an essential component of conservation planning and policy. The current international classification systems for lands managed for nature conservation are reviewed, with a particular emphasis on Australia. The need for a broader, all-encompassing, categorisation of lands managed for conservation is presented and a proposed broader categorisation system is developed-the Conservation Lands Classification. This classification system has the advantage of incorporating data on both tenure and protection mechanisms and has been applied in this paper using conservation lands in three Australian jurisdictions as examples. It is envisaged that this method of classification has the potential to significantly improve the ability to measure current and future trends in nature conservation across all land types at a variety of scales and hence is put forward in order to stimulate discussion on this important topic.

A conflict mediation analysis framework was developed.•We examine six mediation cases in Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand.•Mediation played a crucial role in transforming forest conflicts in six study sites.•Effectiveness and availability of mediation need to be promoted.•Collaboration between researchers and mediators has strengthened the research results.

Las Evaluaciones de Impacto Ambiental (EIA) surgen en
Estados Unidos por medio de la Ley de Política Pública
Ambiental Nacional (NEPA) en 1970 como un método para
integrar una «racionalidad ambiental» a la política pública y
los procesos burocráticos realizando una evaluación holística
y multidisciplinaria que examina las consecuencias de
acciones de desarrollo previo al mismo. En otras palabras,
la EIA es un componente de un buen gobierno dirigido a
garantizar la protección ambiental, que a su vez incide en
el bienestar y desarrollo de nuestra sociedad. Mediante un
análisis descriptivo, el presente trabajo analizó veintitrés (23)
Declaraciones de Impacto Ambiental realizadas en Puerto Rico
entre los años 2005-2013. Los documentos se examinaron
según las leyes y reglamentos vigentes a nivel local, así como
en la literatura internacional sobre el tema de evaluaciones
ambientales. El análisis demostró algunas incongruencias
entre lo planteado en la literatura y política pública para el buen
gobierno ambiental. Entre estas: la preparación inadecuada de
las EIA; un dominio de lenguaje técnico; la exclusión de factores
de biodiversidad; la minimización mediante lenguaje de los
impactos; descripción muy pobre del medioambiente; análisis
incompleto de los impactos ambientales; metodología clara
ambigua; y una justificación economicista que no considera
realmente los costos y beneficios ambientales de los proyectos
y sus alternativas. [Palabras clave: evaluación de impacto
ambiental, declaración de impacto ambiental (DIA), política
pública ambiental, buen gobierno].

Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) arises in United States through the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in 1970 as a method for integrate an "environmental rationality" into public policy and
bureaucratic processes conducting a holistic evaluation and multidisciplinary that examines the consequences of development actions prior to it. In other words, the EIA is a component of a good government aimed at guarantee environmental protection, which in turn affects the welfare and development of our society. Through a
descriptive analysis, the present work analyzed twenty-three (23)
Environmental Impact Statements made in Puerto Rico
between the years 2005-2013. The documents were examined
according to the laws and regulations in force at the local level, as well as  in the international literature on the subject of evaluations
environmental. The analysis showed some inconsistencies
between what was raised in literature and public policy for good
environmental government Among these: inadequate preparation of
the EIAs; a technical language domain; the exclusion of factors
of biodiversity; the minimization through language of
impacts; very poor description of the environment; analysis
incomplete environmental impacts; clear methodology
ambiguous and an economic justification that does not consider
really the environmental costs and benefits of the projects
and its alternatives. [Keywords: environmental impact assessment
(EIA), environmental impact statement (EIS), environmental policy, good governance].

This paper examines local sustainability concepts in Connemara, a predominantly rural region in the West of Ireland, to show how they are (re-)constituted through people’s interactions with social and biophysical environments. We argue that these interactions produce diverse forms of lay environmental knowledge and expertise that encompass cognitive and emotional aspects, a fact that is frequently ignored in environmental policy-making which prioritises rational arguments over reactions rooted in people’s sense of place and community. Local people’s responses to this dominance of “official” rational-technical sustainability concepts are central to recent cases of environmental controversy and lack of compliance to environmental policies that have characterised the study area but that show many parallels to conflicts and disputes elsewhere. Drawing on rich qualitative evidence from interviews and ethnographic fieldwork, this paper demonstrates how communities’ responses to environmental policies depend on how well (or poorly) sustainability concepts underpinning these policies match local people’s social-ecological practices and related place-specific views of what should be sustained.

Keywords: lay knowledge; sustainability; expertise; environmental policy; Connemara; Ireland

There is growing awareness that the cement industry is a significant contributor to global carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions. It is expected that this industry will come under increasing regulatory pressures to reduce its emissions and contribute more aggressively to mitigating global warming. It is important that the industry's stakeholders become more familiar with greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and associated global warming issues, along with emerging policies that may affect the future of the industry. This paper discusses climate change, the current and proposed actions for mitigating its effects, and the implications of such actions for the cement industry. International negotiations on climate change are summarized and mechanisms available under the Kyoto Protocol for reducing greenhouse gas emissions are explained. The paper examines some of the traditional and emerging policy instruments for greenhouse gas emissions and analyses their merits and drawbacks. The applicability, effectiveness and potential impact of these policy instruments for the global cement industry in general and the Canadian cement industry in particular are discussed with recommendations for possible courses of action. #

Farmer decisions with regard to production and land use are strongly influenced by socio-economic factors. In the developed world, the role of agricultural subsidies, quotas and guaranteed prices is especially important. In the past there have been many examples of economic signals which led to unfortunate and unforeseen environmental consequences ('perverse subsidies'), including soil erosion. The problems were neglected because of an emphasis on increases in productivity and the fact that many of the costs were hidden or were external to the farm and were borne by society. In recent years 'agri-environmental measures' have begun to reverse the trend towards environmental degradation.

Research on acid deposition can be traced to the mid-19th century, but has expanded greatly in the last 50 yr, focussing in particular upon the eects on ecosystems of acid deposition caused by the combustion of fossil fuels. Observational studies ®rst associated such acidi®cation with its chemical and biological eects. They were supplemented in 1976 by experimental acidi®cation of a whole lake. By 1980, paleoecological techniques were employed to investigate past histories of acidi®cation. In the 1980s, critical loads were calculated to measure how much acid deposition could be tolerated by aquatic ecosystems. Reductions in emissions of sulfur dioxide, as well as experimental studies in the mid-1980s, allowed investigations of recovery from acidi®cation. At the same time, other studies showed that lake sediments and wetland peats mitigate acid deposition by reducing sulfate and nitrate. In the mid-1990s it has become apparent that acid deposition interacts with other environmental stresses such as climate warming and ozone depletion. #

Climate change threatens to cause the largest refugee crisis in human history. Millions of people, largely in Africa and Asia, might be forced to leave their homes to seek refuge in other places or countries over the course of the century. Yet the current institutions, organizations, and funding mechanisms are not sufficiently equipped to deal with this looming crisis. The situation calls for new governance. We thus outline and discuss in this article a blueprint for a global governance architecture on the protection and voluntary resettlement of climate refugees—defined as people who have to leave their habitats because of sudden or gradual alterations in their natural environment related to one of three impacts of climate change: sea-level rise, extreme weather events, and drought and water scarcity. We provide an extensive review of current estimates of likely numbers and probable regions of origin of climate refugees. With a view to existing institutions, we argue against the extension of the definition of refugees under the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Key elements of our proposal are, instead, a new legal instrument specifically tailored for the needs of climate refugees—a Protocol on Recognition, Protection, and Resettlement of Climate Refugees to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change—as well as a separate funding mechanism.

Keywords: Biodiversity Chile Ecosystem services Fishermen Multiple-Use Coastal Marine Protected Area Stakeholders' perceptions a b s t r a c t The definition of a common vision that includes social and environmental goals, ecosystem services and/or biodiversity features that people are interested in maintaining or restoring is a great challenge for marine protected areas (MPAs). Recent initiatives have promoted broadening the focus from biodiversity conservation alone to the conservation of both ecosystem services and biodiversity, indicating that this integration should improve support and compliance from stakeholders. Using a Multiple-Use Coastal Marine Protected Area recently proposed in northern Chile, we investigated (i) stakeholders' perceptions of the valuation of ecosystem services, threats to their provision, and the prioritization of ecosystem services, biodiversity features, and uses in a planning scenario, and (ii) stakeholders' expectations for the establishment of a new MPA. The perceptions of different groups of stakeholders were compared and statistically analyzed, and the relationships among prioritizations were studied using a network approach. Stakeholders identified and valued 13 ecosystem services, 28 biodiversity features, 20 uses and activities, and 22 threats. Significant differences among the valuations and prioritizations of different stakeholder groups were attributable principally to artisanal fishermen's perceptions of some components that are directly related to their activities and livelihoods. High expectations of benefits from a new MPA implementation were observed for all categories of stakeholders.

Consumer's choice of food can influence the environment. In Sweden, in common with many other countries, consumers need to be given information so they can make environmentally informed shopping choices. However, what is the most advantageous dietary choice to lower greenhouse emissions? This study investigates the greenhouse gas emissions associated with food production for food consumed in Sweden annually. Specifically, this study compares greenhouse gas emissions associated with a nutritionally and environmentally sustainable diet with the average consumption of food in Sweden 1999. The study concludes that the change in energy use and greenhouse gas emission associated with this change of diet is negligible. Lowering greenhouse gas emissions by changing food production processes results in more profound changes than teaching consumers to make environmentally correct choices. There is a basic need for a reduction or a replacement of the use of fossil fuels to produce and distribute our food in order to reach any significant reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases. Swedish agricultural policy does not provide ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In Sweden therefore there is an immediate need to design policy instruments with the primary aim of reducing the greenhouse effect. #

Motivation plays a powerful role in guiding human decision-making and behaviour, including adaptation to climate change. This study aimed to determine whether community-based governance would increase behavioural support, in the form of donation behaviour, for a climate change adaptation trust fund. A sample of 548 Australians was randomly assigned to view one of two governance scenarios: (1) a community-based scenario in which community members were afforded a high level of autonomy in designing and allocating funding within a trust fund to help their community adapt to climate change, or (2) a government-centred scenario in which decision making regarding the trust fund remained with government officials. Path analysis revealed that the community-based scenario produced significantly higher levels of perceived autonomy support within the study's participants. High levels of perceived autonomy support predicted higher levels of autonomous motivation (indicating stronger citizenship) and lower levels of amotivation, a motivational pattern, which, in turn, predicted greater willingness to donate to the climate change adaptation trust. Results are interpreted in terms of Self-Determination Theory and Motivational Crowding Theory.

Munculnya isu pembangunan berwawasan lingkungan yang berkelanjutan seiring dengan gagasan pembangunan berkelanjutan. Munculnya strategi pembangunan berkelanjutan (sustainable development), sekitar tahun 1970-an seiring dengan merebaknya masalah lingkungan. Hal ini ditandai dengan paradigma pembangunan ekonomi konvensional dengan mengejar pertumbuhan ekonomi semata, namun melahirkan kerusakan lingkungan dan sumber daya alam (SDA). Karena itu, pembangunan berwawasan lingkungan hidup yang berkelanjutan menjadi penting untuk dikaji. Deklarasi Stockholm 1972 menuju Rio de Janeiro 1992, sampai dengan Rio + 10 di Johanesburg 2002, menekankan perlunya koordinasi dan integrasi SDA, SDM, dan sumber daya buatan dalam setiap pembangunan nasional, dengan pendekatan kependudukan, pembangunan, dan lingkungan sampai dengan integrasi aspek sosial, ekonomi, dan lingkungan. Dengan demikian, tiga pilar pembangunan berkelanjutan adalah masyarakat (society), lingkungan (environment), dan ekonomi (economy) (Von Stoker et al (dalam Sugandhy dan Hakim, 2007: 22). Dalam pembangunan berkelanjutan, SDA tidak hanya sekedar dieksploitasi untuk mengejar nilai ekonomis saja, melainkan harus memperhatikan aspek kelestarian lingkungan hidup. Artinya, dalam konsep pembangunan berkelanjutan (sustainable development) yang berwawasan lingkungan, memerlukan upaya yang sadar dan terencana, yang memadukan lingkungan hidup termasuk sumber daya proses pembangunan untuk menjamin kemampuan, kesejahteraan dan mutu hidup generasi masa kini dan masa yang akan datang.