ALBERT

Description: In recent years, new tools for funding nature conservation have been designed. Because poverty is often significant in areas with high biodiversity, the improvement of local livelihoods is frequently considered as a secondary goal of new financing mechanisms besides nature conservation. The buffer zone of the Podocarpus National Park in Ecuador is such a high biodiversity zone. In this paper, we compare the cost-effectiveness and development potential of three different mechanisms to finance nature conservation implemented in this buffer zone, namely (a) an organic coffee label, (b) the Socio Bosque Program, a nationwide payment scheme for private forest conservation, and (c) FORAGUA, a regional water fund. This paper describes the functioning and the scope of the mechanisms and analyses their environmental and socio-economic impacts which are compared to the total costs. Results show that the water fund has the highest additionality in ecosystem service provision, while the payment scheme is the most cost-effective both for current as for increased ecosystem service provision and for extra rural job creation. Organic coffee certification has the highest positive impact on rural income creation.

Description: Reuse of treated wastewater (TWW) for agriculture is in practice in many countries. TWW reuse requires wastewater collection, treatment and recycling, which is associated with cost as well as risk to human and ecological systems. In contrast, it can increase agricultural production and reduce environmental risks by reducing wastewater discharge into the natural environment. In Saudi Arabia, where available water resources are extremely limited, TWW reuse can save significant amount of non-renewable groundwater used in agricultural development, which is a strategic goal for the country. In this paper, a multicriteria decision-making approach was developed where cost, risk, benefits and social acceptance of TWW reuse were considered to be the main criteria. A multistage hierarchy risk management model was constructed for this evaluation. Fuzzy synthetic evaluation technique was incorporated where fuzzy triangular membership functions were developed to capture uncertainties of the basic criteria. The analytic hierarchy process was used to determine the relative importance of various criteria at different hierarchy levels. This study indicated that TWW reuse could have positive impact on agriculture, risk reduction and groundwater conservation.

Description: The Middle East, home to nearly half of the world’s oil and natural gas reserves, has traditionally been amongst the world’s least diversified regions in terms of its domestic energy mix, which continues to rely for more than 98% on regionally produced fossil fuels. An increasing number of Middle Eastern and North African countries have set ambitious targets for the adoption of renewable energy to supply their future energy markets. Given the limited use of renewable energy technology in the region so far, governments and various private sector stakeholders interested in promoting renewable energy technology in the Middle East find themselves in a challenging position. This paper aims to examine the various stakeholders’ positions; to discuss barriers to the introduction of renewables to the region’s energy markets; and to propose realistic targets and policy solutions to effectively raise the share of renewables in the Middle East’s future energy mix. The post A Roadmap for Renewables in the Middle East appeared first on Oxford Institute for Energy Studies .

Description: This paper examines the implications of the rapid growth in US tight oil production for US and global energy markets. The behaviour of US crude markets is analysed, with a particular focus on changing arbitrage dynamics. The rapid growth in US tight oils production was not met with an equally fast response by the US midstream companies, resulting in severe regional crude price dislocations. These lower regional prices impacted on producer profits and, more significantly, benefitted refineries that secured cheap feedstock and sold end products at levels linked to global product markets. However, we argue that globally, US tight oil production has primarily impacted price spreads though changes in trade flows, rather than absolute oil price levels, given various offsetting factors such as extremely weak supplies from outside the US.‎ Put another way, we argue that perhaps the correct way of seeing the US supply shock is not as something that should result in the collapse of prices, but instead as a factor that has prevented prices from being significantly higher. The post US Tight Oils – prospects and implications appeared first on Oxford Institute for Energy Studies .

Description: Historically, the industry has had a very poor record in predicting oil prices and key fundamental shifts in the oil market, and this time is no different. Not only did most industry and oil market analysts fail to predict the scale of the tight oil revolution, but now that the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction, expectations regarding the impact of the tight oil revolution on global supply dynamics and international prices appear overhyped. However, contrary to the general view in the market that the abundance of tight oil would cause both a sharp drop in oil prices and create a supply glut in crude or refined products, neither has really materialized. This raises a key question: how can the oil market be undergoing a revolution without its effects being felt on global oil prices? One may argue that the impact of shale oil on prices and oil market dynamics is yet to be felt, as some of the underlying forces still need time to unfold. However, we find such an argument unconvincing. If, during the last three years, the large positive US supply shock failed to cause sharp price falls, why would a rise in US supply now bring about falling prices over the next few years? Instead, in this note, we argue that there are some fundamental weaknesses and flaws in the analysis underlying the ‘oil price-collapsing’ scenario and ‘hyped expectations’; current projections of the impact of shale on global oil market dynamics are hence likely to produce ‘off the mark’ predictions once again. We also argue that the current debate neglects some key areas in which the tight oil revolution is likely to have its biggest impact – namely on crude oil and product trade flows, on price differentials, and on the global markets for natural gas liquids. The post The US Tight Oil Revolution in a Global Perspective appeared first on Oxford Institute for Energy Studies .

Description: This paper aims to contribute toward improved understanding of complex ecological distribution conflicts at the commodity frontiers, where increasing metabolism in industrial societies is leading to increased environmental destruction in resource-rich countries throughout the world. The focus of this paper is the Conga gold mine project in northern Peru, where there have been violent clashes between the Minera Yanacocha mining company and the local population, represented mainly by campesinos that live in the highlands of the Andes–Amazon region. We do this by using the flow/fund model developed by Georgescu-Roegen and extended by Giampietro and Mayumi, to help us trace the anatomy of this conflict, using simplified representations of the central economic processes involved: gold mining and milk production. By complementing the concept of Ricardian land—an indestructible fund—with the concept of land materials, which is susceptible to qualitative change, and therefore can be either a fund or a flow element of the economic process, we illustrate that the gold extraction process, which treats this land material as a flow, stands in conflict with the milk production process, at least in part, because that process is using these land materials as a fund, i.e., in order to make production possible. The paper employs the concept of environmental valuation triadics, developed by Farrell, in order to explore how the boundaries—physical frontiers and temporal durations—of a specified economic process are related to flow/fund element identities. We conclude with some reflections on potential future applications for the methods employed and on the implications of our analytical results.

Description: Although widely studied, the residential water demand remains a controversial issue. The purpose of the current study is to investigate systematic variations across related studies using meta-analysis approach. Particularly, a meta-analytical regression is performed to assess the sensitivity of the price, income and household size elasticities to a number of characteristics including demand specification, data characteristics, price specification, tariff structure, functional form, estimation technique and location of demand. The empirical results of the study reveal that these characteristics have differing influence on the reported elasticities. Obviously, these findings lie in their importance for regulators and policy makers and for academics alike. Among others, two important conclusions emerge. First, water use in summer and winter seasons and water use for indoor and outdoor purposes are found to be important factors affecting the price elasticity. This suggests that peak-load water pricing may be an effective tool for managing water demand. Second, the three elasticities tend to be differently estimated across various regions of the world as well as between developed and developing countries. Therefore, decision makers in a given country would not rely on the findings of studies conducted on other countries in formulating their policies.

Description: The Rio+20 summit of the United Nations in Brazil in 2012 committed governments to formulate a set of sustainable development goals (SDGs) that would be integrated into the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) following its expiration in 2015. This decision has pushed sustainable development agenda into the limelight of development once again. Meanwhile, we note that the development agenda of many developing countries has been dominated by neoliberal orientation driven by market reforms, social inequality, and a move towards enhancing the economic competitiveness of the supply side of the economy. In this paper, we discuss the relationship between neoliberal economic agenda and sustainable development. We do so by examining how neoliberal policies of privatisation, trade liberalisation and reduction in governments spending stand to affect the attainment of sustainable development ideals and their implications on the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals. The paper then suggests that relying solely on the mechanisms of the market in governing and allocating environmental resources is necessarily insufficient and problematic and therefore calls for a new approach—one which goes beyond just recognising the interdependency among social, environmental and economic goals and places issues of equity and addressing unfavourable power relations at the centre of interventions aimed at achieving the ideals of sustainable development.

Description: Conflicts between human demands for clean water and terrestrial ecosystems’ needs for water are increasing. Such conflicts are stronger in the case of groundwater, as one of the cleanest forms of drinking water, and are expected to increase in frequency, in the context of population growth and climatic changes. This paper argues that behavioral approaches are essential not only toward understanding how socio-ecological conflicts emerge, but also how they could be overcome. A theoretical the framework is proposed, which suggests that the behaviors/actions of actors who sustain such conflicts can be understood by examining their ‘boundary judgments’ regarding natural resources and sustainability, in interaction with their powers/resources to implement the preferred behaviors. The concept of boundary judgements is rarely used in investigating sustainability conflicts. This concept is operationalized in relation to nature-society conflicts and applied empirically to illuminate the conflict in a case study from the Netherlands. Further, the theoretical framework suggests a parsimonious, yet comprehensive, typology of mechanisms that can be used to change/‘converge’ the behaviors and actions of the actors contributing to the problem, toward conflict closure. These are referred to as convergence mechanisms and can be persuasive, enabling or constraining. The paper concludes with reflections on the practical usefulness of the framework and concretes suggestions for further research, drawing on these convergence mechanisms and their interactions with boundary judgments on natural resources and sustainability.

Description: Spain is living with a high penetration of intermittent renewable power from wind and solar PV. Other EU electricity markets will soon have to do the same, if they are not already doing so. This Comment summarizes a number of the challenges facing Spain as a result of this form of de-carbonization, and also considers the implications for the EU.  For each of the challenges, the Comment suggests possible policy responses.  The Spanish case reveals the need for a fundamental revision of European wholesale electricity markets to reflect the cost structures of de-carbonised  power.  It also highlights the need to reconsider European policies on climate change to enable markets to support innovation in low carbon technologies. The post Living with Intermittent Renewable Power – Challenges for Spain and the EU appeared first on Oxford Institute for Energy Studies .

Description: The Italian gas market is the third largest in Europe with strong demand growth especially in the power generation sector up to the mid 2000s. But projections of demand growth from that era have not been realised. Clearly the impact of the financial crisis and subsequent recession has had a significant impact, exacerbated by the growth in wind and solar generation capacity. Market liberalisation in the 2000s failed to achieve levels of competition in the mid and downstream sectors to the extent seen in North West European markets. This resulted not only in some of the highest European end-user gas prices, but also delayed development of a liquid trading hub. Only in late 2012 did prices at the Italian gas hub PSV align with the prices at the Dutch gas hub TTF and other North West European hubs after capacity availability issues in linking infrastructure were resolved. Italy’s contracted supply commitments considerably exceed current and envisaged gas consumption levels. Scenarios on gas demand are not optimistic and will ultimately depend on future economic activity, tempered by the growth of renewable capacity. This paper takes these issues into consideration, and offers some insights regarding the challenges but also the opportunities that will arise in the Italian gas industry up to 2020. The post The Italian Gas Market – Challenges and Opportunities appeared first on Oxford Institute for Energy Studies .

Description: Natural gas commentary and industry focus on South Asia tends to target India, the largest gas market.   Pakistan and Bangladesh in aggregate however equal India in terms of gas consumption and as such are significant markets in their own right.  This paper by Ieda Gomes is an in-depth study of the genesis and present situation of these two significant gas consuming countries, including the drag on their potential economic output as a consequence of gas supply shortages and the attempts of each to secure gas import projects be they pipeline gas or LNG.  Their lack of success to date due to poor institutional capability, insufficient trust with potential suppliers or merely procedural shortcomings is recounted.  This said, there is clearly a need for both a re-invigorated upstream domestic exploration and development campaign and the implementation of a coherent import strategy.  Reform of domestic pricing is critical to the achievement of both these necessary developments. This paper is a detailed and comprehensive study of these gas markets at a crucial stage of their evolution. The post Natural Gas in Pakistan and Bangladesh – current issues and trends appeared first on Oxford Institute for Energy Studies .

Description: It is well known that the incorporation of the intergenerational equity objective has turned the traditional Cost–Benefit Analysis (CBA) approach into an obsolete tool for the evaluation of certain types of projects, particularly those exhibiting many environmental externalities and those whose effects extend throughout a long period of time. Two main changes are taking place in CBA in order to adapt this methodology to the sustainable development paradigm: (a) the development of new tools for the economic valuation of environmental externalities that were traditionally left out of the analysis; and (b) an in-depth revision of the theoretical foundations underlying the traditional approaches to discounting, since the repercussions of decisions that are presently being debated will extend to a distant future (in some cases for centuries), whereas in the classical CBA, we deal with few decades at best. This paper aims at investigating the discounting operation in CBA, trying to summarize the main approaches available in the literature, with specific reference to the tools which allow future generations to be included in the analysis. In order to support the theoretical explanation, a real case study is analysed concerning the evaluation of a waste incinerator that has been constructed in the Province of Turin (Italy).

Description: This paper explores China’s role in deforestation in Latin America. Brazil’s Amazon region contains vast natural resources including land, timber, minerals and hydroelectric potential. China’s strong economy and large demands relative to domestic supplies of these resources mean that China has become Brazil’s largest trading partner, primarily for natural resources. The paper examines how China influences deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia in a variety of ways, including through the direct influence of Chinese enterprises through land purchases and other mechanisms. This paper finds that the rapid rise in exports of soy and beef products to China are two of the major drivers of Amazonian deforestation in Brazil. The paper further argues that Chinese purchases of agricultural and forest land and Chinese imports of commodities such as timber and aluminum also cause environmental impacts in Amazonia. Chinese financing and investment in Amazonian infrastructure such as railways and mineral processing facilities have additional impacts.

Description: The Mekong River’s natural resources offer large benefits to its populations, but it also attracts the interest of foreign investors. Recently, Chinese firms, banks and government bodies have increasingly invested in large hydropower projects in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region. Due to China’s rapid economic growth, its rapid industrialisation and its limited domestic natural resources, the Chinese government has issued the ‘Going Out Strategy’ which promotes investments in overseas natural resources like water and energy resources. In search for climate-friendly low-carbon energy, cheap electricity and access to a growing market, Chinese institutions turn to Southeast Asia where Chinese institutions are currently involved in more than 50 on-going large hydropower projects as contractors, investors, regulators and financiers. These Chinese institutions have influence on environmental and social practices as well as on diplomatic and trade relations in the host countries. Currently, there are major gaps in understanding who is engaged, why, how and with what impacts. This paper therefore aims to assess the motives, actors, beneficiaries and the direct and indirect impacts of China’s investment in large hydropower projects in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region. The authors use the ‘Rising Powers Framework’ to assess these issues, which is an adapted version of the Asian Drivers Framework.

Description: We attempt to understand, scientifically, how different members of the mining concession, impacted communities, and government authorities behave when a conflicting situation arises. The main purpose of our effort is to start developing a framework for the scientific modeling of stakeholders’ behavior, and we create a reality-driven generic scenario of conflict. We assume that the managers and superintendants of a mining operation currently envision a problem; one that tests the limits of the commitment of the company’s mission statement, and of the spectrum of actions taken which are embedded in the “culture” of the company’s corporate social responsibility. It is an “event” that highlights the nature of an overall problem that the company would like to predict and act proactively: the integration of scientific tools, sustainability, and cultural realities within a mining framework. We adapt an agent-based modeling approach and start with a theoretical understanding of certain social behavior, build a model, and simulate “what if” scenarios to understand its dynamics to gain a better insight of the complexity of a seemingly simple social system of interest.

Description: Chennai city, the capital of Tamil Nadu state in South India, has been experiencing rapid expansion since the last two decades, resulting in major changes in land use and degradation of wetlands. Small lakes in the peri-urban areas face severe strain on their environment due to transition of rural to urban conditions, leaving at stake their aquatic health and intended uses. This paper studies the role of urbanization and land use changes in the water quality of peri-urban (Rajakilpakkam) and rural (Vengaivasal) lakes. Water samples were collected and analysed for temperature, total dissolved solids, major ions, nutrients and biological oxygen demand as per standard methods. The temperature, pH and biological oxygen demand did not differ between lakes, while total dissolved solids ( p  = 0.008), alkalinity ( p  = 0.000), total hardness ( p  = 0.001) and phosphate ( p  = 0.000) were significantly higher in Rajakilpakkam. Seasonal and spatial variations in water quality between the lakes showed the direct impact of rapid and uncontrolled growth of built-up areas in the catchment area, in enhancing waste water inflows with inorganic salts and nutrients in Rajakilpakkam lake compared with Vengaivasal lake. Urbanization of the catchment and encroachments in Rajakilpakkam lake tends to reduce the social interdependence of lake and community and promote disuse, leading to decline in water quality. The impending environmental costs caused by urbanization to these lakes will only be tackled, if the main issues of domestic and industrial discharges and encroachments are addressed properly.

Description: In this OIES Energy and Environment Brief, Benito Müller looks at lessons from fiscal transfer mechanisms, i.e. instruments used to allocate central tax revenue to sub-national governments, for the allocation of (adaptation) resources by the Green Climate Fund. The post The Allocation of (Adaptation) Resources appeared first on Oxford Institute for Energy Studies .

Description: The role of the Arctic region in global petroleum supply over the next decades is becoming a subject of increasing interest as the potential of the region’s geology is revealed and the shrinking of the ice cap makes drilling an increasingly feasible activity. Nevertheless, significant concerns remain, not least the potential impact of any hydrocarbon E&P activity in an environmentally sensitive region. In addition, the lack of existing infrastructure and the likely high cost of any development in geographically remote and climatically harsh conditions mean that the economics of any new project will depend to a large extent on the size of discoveries and the oil price, which, in turn, will be impacted by the development of other sources of oil supply (for example, US unconventional oil) and alternative energies. As a result, although increased activity in a number of Arctic countries suggests that the region could become a major source of future oil supply, there are a number of challenges – including the impact of sanctions resulting from the Ukraine crisis – to be met before this potential can be realized. The objective of this paper is to provide an updated overview of offshore oil and gas developments in the Arctic and to discuss the potential for large-scale development of the region as a petroleum province over the next 20-30 years, thereby providing a starting point for future production estimates and for analyzing how relevant such estimates may be for global oil (and gas) markets. The paper argues that the most likely Arctic offshore areas to be developed first are the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea but that various factors – political, commercial, technological and environmental – have the potential to hamper petroleum development, particularly if the conflict between Russia and the international community continues to escalate, as partnership will be critical if the Arctic resources of the country with the largest geography in the region are to be developed successfully. Executive Summary The post The Prospects and Challenges for Arctic Oil Development appeared first on Oxford Institute for Energy Studies .

Description: Sustainability analysis of urban complex systems, as an interdisciplinary study, necessitates integrative modeling approaches for analyzing relationships between land parameters and landscape patterns. The present paper emphasizes applicability of dynamic and scenario-based investigation of urban environments for understanding the interactions between urbanization suitability and landscape pattern. Combining parameter modification and model integration approaches for introducing growth alternatives, a basis was established for detailed assessment of the Karaj urban context, Iran. SLEUTH’s probabilistic images of future urbanized lands of two growth scenarios (historical trend-based urban growth and compact urban growth) were simultaneously employed as dynamic factors for urbanization suitability mapping and landscape pattern analysis of the years 2011, 2020, 2030 and 2040. Findings of the present studies showed while historical trend-based urban expansion occupied more land resources, this growth option resulted in a more manageable pattern of urban landscape in terms of its connectivity and compactness as well as possessing higher urbanization suitability index across the study time frame. This study addresses utility of scenario-based analysis of urban areas that furnishes urban planners with insights into cumulative impacts of an ongoing urbanization process under different environmental circumstances.

Description: During President Putin’s visit to Beijing in November 2014 Gazprom and CNPC signed a memorandum of understanding concerning the export of gas to China via the so-called “western route” via the Russian republic of Altai. The announcement was hailed by Russia as another example of its shift towards Asia as a diversification of its traditional gas export business in the West. This has important implications not only for Russia and China, but also for all the other potential suppliers of gas, and especially LNG, into North-East Asia. Confirmation that China could import up to 68bcma of Russian gas starting from 2019 would create a significant dent in the country’s potential LNG import requirement from 2020, increasing the competition between the planned sources of supply that are being constructed and planned over the next 5-10 years. Despite remaining doubts as to whether both Russia – China pipeline deals proceed to completion, it would appear that LNG suppliers are right to be concerned, as there is real commercial as well as political logic for significant Russian gas to flow south into the world’s fastest growing gas market. From a Chinese perspective, growing gas demand, uncertainty over some of its existing sources of supply, a desire to create more competition with Central Asian gas and the one-off nature of the opportunity to negotiate with Russia from a position of exceptional bargaining strength mean that an Altai deal is also likely to make sense. There may be some concern over the need for more Russian gas, with the possibility that total supply of 68bcma (the combined capacity of the Power of Siberia and Altai pipelines) could account for as much as one third of total Chinese imports by 2030. However, any potential security of supply threat is offset by the fact that the Russian contribution to overall Chinese gas consumption would be much lower, at around 13%, while the share of gas in the China’s total energy balance is estimated to remain below 10% at that date. Overall, then, the potential for a deal on exports via the Altai pipeline appears to have significant commercial and political logic. If a deal is signed, substantial problems will still remain, not the least of which will be Gazprom’s ability to raise the money needed to build the pipeline given its current inability to access western capital markets. Nevertheless, the impact of the signing of an Altai deal alone could have a significant impact on the ambitions of companies planning LNG projects that are also targeting the Chinese market, and as such the continuing discussions will require attentive observation over the next 12 months. The post The Commercial and Political Logic for the Altai Pipeline appeared first on Oxford Institute for Energy Studies .

Description: It is well known that sustainability has become a much needed target, especially considering the recent rapid urban sprawl and the subsequent exacerbation of social, environmental, and economic problems. Thus, many studies have been conducted to define sustainability and the sustainable city. However, many of these definitions suggest a range of contradictions, implying that the achievement of sustainability is elusive. The problem lies in setting unreasonable definitions of sustainability and in the various contradictions to these definitions, making sustainability seemingly unattainable. Hence, some models of cities are emerging that are labeled as sustainable cities; among these are the “zero-carbon city” and the “ubiquitous eco-city” (“U-eco-city”). This study reviews the history and definitions of sustainability, in order to acknowledge the contradictions inherent in these concepts. It also briefly presents the compact city, the zero-carbon eco-city, and the U-eco-city by determining their individual pros and cons and highlighting where there are any conflicts with the principles of sustainability. The aim of the study was to adjust the use of sustainability as a terminology in the field of urban sustainable development and to demonstrate the extent to which we use marketing names for eco-cities without compliance with sustainable dimensions. The study will also discuss the key sustainability pillar required for a project to be kept sustainable. The study concludes that the use of the term “sustainable city” may limit the potential for further enhancing sustainability in future projects; using the term “transition toward the sustainable city” may be more accurate and more effective. The results show that reducing energy consumption through efficient use, and relying on renewable energies, will be the keys to reaching urban sustainability. The study also finds that recent tyranny in the name of ecology will not result in real sustainability. Although the free eco-city and the u-eco-city are considered advanced models, their limitations are related more to the economic and social aspects than to the compact city, which clearly reflected the pillars of sustainability, despite its being an outdated model.

Description: Households do not easily agree to move out of their natural habitat in spite of frequent flooding and loss of life and property because of their attachment to the place and established socio-economic network. This also shapes their risk perception, pre-flood preparedness, and livelihood resilience. In this backdrop, the paper attempts to find out the role of households’ risk perception and their flood preparedness as a mediator between place attachment and livelihood resilience. It further explores different adaptive methods households develop to overcome flooding issues. The study is based on a sample of randomly drawn 472 households from the river basins of Ganga and Kosi in the district of Bhagalpur, Bihar. The mediation analysis and Sobel’s test were used to analyze and interpret the data. The study reveals the role of risk perception and flood preparedness as a partial mediator between the place attachment and livelihood resilience. The households do not perceive flood as a ‘threat’, as they have learnt to ‘live’ with it as ‘a way of life’ because of their attachment to the place, experience of frequent exposure to flooding, and knowledge of local resources.

Description:    Outotec open cycle (OOC) is a new low-energy process linking together production of hydrogen and sulfuric acid. While sulfuric acid is the world’s most widely produced chemical by mass at approximately 200 Mt/a, the OOC gives the potential for making 4 Mt/a of hydrogen gas as a by-product. H 2 SO 4 manufacture requires a source of sulfur dioxide. 30% of world production of H 2 SO 4 is from the SO 2 by-product of pyrometallurgical processing of sulfur containing concentrates of metals such as copper, nickel and zinc. SO 2 can also be made by direct combustion of sulfur. In OOC, a divided electrochemical cell is used for SO 2 -depolarized electrolysis of water. SO 2 is fed to the anolyte and converted to H 2 SO 4 , while hydrogen gas is produced at the cathode. On the industrial scale, the equipment will be in the form of a membrane electrolyzer assembly or stack. A case is described where the OOC would be connected to a pyrometallurgical plant smelting 1 Mt/a of nickel and copper concentrate, producing 1 Mt/a of H 2 SO 4 and 20 kt/a of hydrogen. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9342-z Authors Anu Lokkiluoto, Aalto University School of Chemical Technology, Vuorimiehentie 2, Espoo, PO Box 16200, 00076 Aalto, Finland Pekka A. Taskinen, Aalto University School of Chemical Technology, Vuorimiehentie 2, Espoo, PO Box 16200, 00076 Aalto, Finland Michael Gasik, Aalto University School of Chemical Technology, Vuorimiehentie 2, Espoo, PO Box 16200, 00076 Aalto, Finland Ilkka V. Kojo, Outotec Oyj, Riihitontuntie 7 D, PO Box 86, 02200 Espoo, Finland Heljä Peltola, Outotec (Finland Oy) Research Center, Kuparitie 10, PO Box 69, 28101 Pori, Finland Michael H. Barker, Outotec (Finland Oy) Research Center, Kuparitie 10, PO Box 69, 28101 Pori, Finland Karl-Heinz Kleifges, Outotec (Oberursel), Ludwig-Erhard-Strasse 21, 61440 Oberursel, Germany Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description: The government has an ambitious renewables programme whose costs have been much discussed. Unfortunately, due to the polarised nature of the debate, it has not produced clarity and some basic points remain obscure – are renewables cheap or expensive? Are renewables costs rising or falling?  This Comment, by Malcolm Keay, looks at two important aspects of the issue – resource and system costs – which have often been neglected but which throw light on the debate and help explain some of the uncertainties about the likely cost of meeting the government’s targets.

Description: At the second meeting of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Board in October 2012, India announced they would prepare a submission with regards to the Board deliberations on a business model for the GCF. A consultation meeting was held in New Delhi on 15-16 February 2013 for which Benito Müller (Director Energy and Environment, OIES) was asked to contribute one of three background papers, focussing on access modalities and disbursement instruments. This Oxford Energy and Environment Brief is based on this background paper.

Description: High oil prices and the environmental advantages of gas have led to increased interest in natural gas as a transportation fuel though barriers such as lack of refuelling infrastructure and inadequate policy actions have inhibited growth in many countries. Levels of global car ownership are forecast to continue to grow strongly as is the demand for road freight. Significant penetration of the transport sector by natural gas could therefore represent an attractive growth opportunity for the fuel – not least in Europe where the gas demand outlook is for low or negative growth rates. The paper will cover the following aspects: •     The technical, commercial and environmental case for natural gas transportation (NGT) versus other fuel options •     The extent and likelihood of the adoption of natural gas as a transportation fuel in the European market under existing and potential policy directions •     The long term impact on European gas demand of alternative policy scenarios encouraging NGT usage •     The key policy drivers and structural aspects that could encourage or inhibit the development of the NGT sector in Europe

Description: The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change implies that countries should shoulder costs and burdens of climate change in accordance with differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, but it does not indicate how these fairness parameters are to be quantified. In this OIES Paper, Benito Müller and Lavan Mahadeva provide a novel and distinctive methodology (‘Oxford Approach’) regarding quantifying the (economic) capability of countries as a contribution to assessments of fair cost/burden distributions, an issue of central importance in the upcoming international climate change debate.

Description:    We observed skewed distribution across household of benefits of pesticide use in vegetable farming in Nepal. However, economic burden or harm of pesticide use and exposure by household economy is poorly studied. It is hypothesized that exaggerated and incompetent pesticide use is likely to affect human health that may lead to decline in human productivity, and economic loss––that may further marginalize farmers. Thus, a study was conducted in the Ansi khola watershed of Kavrepalanchowk District of central Nepal. The primary aim of the study was to value risks of pesticide use and to estimate health costs of exposure by household category. We grouped household into “large-scale” who owns more than 1 ha of agricultural land, “small-scale” having 〈0.5 ha and “medium-scale” in between 〉0.5 and 〈1 ha. Data were collected through (1) an initial household survey conducted from May to June 2008, (2) monthly visit surveys accomplished from June to November 2008 and (3) a final household survey conducted during November to December 2009. The cost of pesticide use and exposure was highest for medium-scale household; however, the economic burden in relation to incomes was the highest for small-scale household. On the basis of area under vegetables, small-scale household incurred 23 % higher economic burdens compared to the large-scale household. Overall, the cost of pesticide use and exposure amounted 15 % of agricultural income and/or 5 % of gross household income. For small-scale households, the cost was equivalent to 18 % of agricultural income and 6 % of gross income. Small-scale households are not only deprived from benefits of agriculture intensification, but also incurred highest burden of pesticide use. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9414-0 Authors Kishor Atreya, Department of International Environment and Development Studies (Noragric), Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB), Post Box 5003, 1432 Aas, Norway Bishal Kumar Sitaula, Department of International Environment and Development Studies (Noragric), Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB), Post Box 5003, 1432 Aas, Norway Roshan Man Bajracharya, Aquatic Ecology Centre, Kathmandu University, Post Box 6250, Dhulikhel, Nepal Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description:    The emergence of China as a global player challenges the pre-existing dominance of the OECD countries and will continue to be a crucial force for global change in coming decades. The implications of China’s rise will be most significant for low- and middle-income countries, but the outcomes will also affect China’s relations with traditional donors and the understanding of the process of development. While these issues are increasingly explored at the political and economic level, very little analysis is available for the environmental impacts that China has on low- and middle-income countries. It is well understood that China plays a major role in relation to climate change, energy use and natural resource use at the global level; however, the perspective of China’s environmental impacts on low- and middle-income countries is underexplored. This Special Issue, therefore, elaborates the rise of China from the environmental perspective and assesses the impacts of China’s rise on low- and middle-income countries for international research, policy and practice in the field of environment and development. The findings draw on insights relevant for energy, water, forestry and land issues in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-7 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9411-3 Authors Frauke Urban, Centre for Development, Environment and Policy (CeDEP), School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK Giles Mohan, Development Policy and Practice Group, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK Sarah Cook, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), Geneva, Switzerland Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description:    Oil palm industries produce an enormous quantity of lignocellulosic biomass; in the form of large leaves of palm tree, pruned fronds (OPF) and oil palm trunks (OPT) at the plantations site. Besides this, the processing of fresh fruit bunches in the oil mills generates empty fruit bunches (EFB), shells, kernel cake and mesocarp fibers. The proper management of this burgeoning waste and its disposal is an ardent task and creates environmental hazards. In order to deal with the biomass residues, the urgent need is that it should be transformed into resources with industrial utility. As the economic development has resulted in the significant increased demand for paper, the industry is looking for eccentric sources to fulfill the requirement. The pulp and paper industry preferred use of coniferous and deciduous trees for papermaking because their cellulose fibers in the pulp make durable paper. With improvements in pulp processing technology, fibers of almost any non-wood of plants species like bamboo, cereal straw, sugarcane, flax, hemp and jute can be used for paper pulp. Substituting this lignocellulosic material can reduce the burden on forest while supporting the natural biodiversity. The present review deals with the possibilities of using oil palm biomass as a raw material for pulp and papermaking, as this would ameliorate its waste management problem. The potential of oil palm biomass and the challenges regarding its use in papermaking are discussed. The use of oil palm biomass will apparently prove that the oil palm industry is ecofriendly in every aspect of its activities and aid in sustainability of forest ecosystem. Content Type Journal Article Category Review Pages 1-17 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9390-4 Authors Pooja Singh, Division of Bio-resource, Paper and Coatings Technology, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia Othman Sulaiman, Division of Bio-resource, Paper and Coatings Technology, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia Rokiah Hashim, Division of Bio-resource, Paper and Coatings Technology, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia Leh Cheu Peng, Division of Bio-resource, Paper and Coatings Technology, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia Rajeev Pratap Singh, Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 220005 India Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description: While oil, economy and politics are subjects that are often debated in discussions of contemporary Iran, the political and institutional framework that both enables and constrains Iran’s oil sector has rarely been made an explicit subject of analysis. The relative neglect of this area has left a gap in our scholarly understanding of Iran’s most important industry and its symbiotic relationship with the shifting configurations that constitute the Iranian political elite. The importance of filling this gap has become particularly salient in light of the current consolidation of oil sector decision making under the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). William’s research will examine contemporary changes in the confluence of oil, politics and institutions to map the new trajectory along which Iranian oil sector strategy and governance is currently developing. Bringing to bear an intimate knowledge of the Iranian political landscape, the research will place sectoral developments in a broader analytical landscape that will encompasses Iran’s domestic and international position.

Description:    Human–elephant conflict is an issue of great concern regarding the growing competition between people and wildlife for food and shelter throughout Asia and Africa. The situation the Asian elephant faces is much critical. According to IUCN (Big hopes for endangered Asian Elephants, News Release, Gland, 2006 ), one of the prime factors to the decline of elephant population in India is the increasing trend in human–elephant conflict. Barjora block of Bankura district in West Bengal is one of the severe conflict prone zones in West Bengal, where elephant raid in every year has now become an inevitable phenomenon. As a result, crop damage, infrastructural damages, disturbances of daily activities, occurrence of human death and injuries have no doubt annihilated and frustrated the social fabric of life. This paper is an empirical attempt to address various consequences of human–elephant encounters which have an adverse impact on social, economic as well as the cultural life of the people. Instead of pursuing some traditional mitigation techniques, we argued much on understanding peoples’ perception to explore some sustainable mitigation measures to ensure the interest of both human and elephant and also to safeguard ecological integrity. Content Type Journal Article Category Case Study Pages 1-19 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9392-2 Authors Kunal Chakraborty, S.N. College, Labpur, Birbhum, West Bengal, India Jhantu Mondal, Dr. B.N.D.S Mahavidyalaya, Hatgobindapur, Burdwan, West Bengal, India Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description:    Human decisions shape patterns of seafood resource use. Consequently, it is also these decisions made by actors within seafood industries which ultimately determine the environmental impact of fisheries resource extraction from marine environments. In this study, we investigated the roles and influences of various actors within the Irish seafood industry. Our objectives were to learn more about the working dynamics of the industry and identify possibilities for improvements towards industry sustainability. We employed qualitative research methods including semi-structured interviews, focus groups and participant observation to access information from Irish consumers, retailers, wholesalers, scientists and key industry informants. The diversity of seafood products available within the Irish market is generally low. However, consumers who experiment with trying new varieties of seafood are influenced by dining experiences at restaurants or while travelling abroad as well as through cooking shows or cookbooks. Potential for influence on factors including consumer choice, stocking and sourcing decisions, business management and fisheries policy was found within all levels of the seafood industry, though a sense of responsibility in the context of seafood sustainability was less common. In addition, the absence of shortages within the Irish market due to imports, aquaculture and mislabelling appears to be preventing widespread acceptance about claims of overfishing. It is clear that ultimately, responsible policy decisions and effective enforcement will be needed to improve the overall sustainability of the industry. However, pressure for positive change can come from all actors that prioritise sustainability as the most important objective for future industry operation. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-18 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9396-y Authors Dana D. Miller, School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland Stefano Mariani, School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description:    We attempt to understand, scientifically, how different members of the mining concession, impacted communities, and government authorities behave when a conflicting situation arises. The main purpose of our effort is to start developing a framework for the scientific modeling of stakeholders’ behavior, and we create a reality-driven generic scenario of conflict. We assume that the managers and superintendants of a mining operation currently envision a problem; one that tests the limits of the commitment of the company’s mission statement, and of the spectrum of actions taken which are embedded in the “culture” of the company’s corporate social responsibility. It is an “event” that highlights the nature of an overall problem that the company would like to predict and act proactively: the integration of scientific tools, sustainability, and cultural realities within a mining framework. We adapt an agent-based modeling approach and start with a theoretical understanding of certain social behavior, build a model, and simulate “what if” scenarios to understand its dynamics to gain a better insight of the complexity of a seemingly simple social system of interest. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9389-x Authors Masami Nakagawa, Department of Mining Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA Kyle Bahr, Department of Mining Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA Derek Levy, Mountain Culture Consulting, P.O. Box 115, Rico, CO 81332, USA Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description: This paper assesses the prospects and challenges facing the Republic of Cyprus in developing the discovery of a significant offshore gas field by Noble Energy in December 2011. This discovery came close on the heels of the major discoveries in adjacent offshore Israel, further astounding the international upstream exploration and production community who had largely overlooked the prospectivity of this area.   For the Republic of Cyprus, whose economy is dominated by tourism and the service sector and overshadowed by Eurozone economic malaise, this discovery offers lower domestic energy costs and substantial export revenues. However, as is often the case with unexpected fortune, decisions on how best to develop such a resource for the benefit of a nation with a history of inter-ethnic tensions are not straightforward and further complicated by Cyprus’ geographic and geopolitical setting. Anastasios Giamouridis describes the status of the Aphrodite field and juxtaposes the logical process of progressively defining options for the development of the field and the export strategy for gas produced in excess of Cyprus’ modest current and future consumption needs with the rising expectations, not just of the Cypriot government but also neighbouring countries with either aspirations to share in this source of hydrocarbon wealth or openly disputing Cyprus’ sovereign hydrocarbon ownership rights.  Anastasios introduces the pros and cons of future unitisation and joint development with Israel and examines the institutional capability of the Cypriot government to guide the monetisation of the resource at a time when it is also focused on Cyprus’s EU Presidency in the second half of 2012.

Description: To most analysts, the combination of geopolitical and economic factors constitutes a ‘perfect storm’ that will keep an upward pressure on oil the price for the rest of 2012. The purpose of this short article is to broaden the debate and consider some potential weaknesses in the dominant story. The article will highlight three main points. First, the premises upon which the story of tightened market fundamentals is built are subject to a wide degree of uncertainty. Second, the channels expected to put an upward pressure on the oil price are not exogenous: they tend to interact with each other and are shaped in part by oil price behaviour. Finally, the feedback from policy circles seems to be different this time from that seen in the previous oil price cycle, and thus should not be ignored. This is not to say that dominant expectations of very tight market fundamentals may not materialize. They may well do, but this is not a foregone conclusion.

Description:    The study aimed at determining the socio-economic issues due to municipal solid waste dumping, the extent of groundwater contamination and the groundwater dependency around Perungudi dumpsite in Tamil Nadu, India. Sampling and analysis of groundwater and leachate show the contamination migration is due to dumpsite leachate. The concentrations of contaminants were more severe within 1.5 km along groundwater flow direction mainly due to the geological profile. The Piper diagram also shows that the groundwater sampled within 3 km in the flow direction was classified as Na–Cl type. Studies conducted within contaminated areas to determine the groundwater usage showed that higher percentage of lower and middle socio-economic status categories was using the groundwater for domestic purposes, which may lead to health issues. The present study suggests that proper solid waste management and groundwater remediation techniques along with the people’s involvement are necessary to reduce the consequences of groundwater contamination on the people residing around the dumpsite. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-20 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9349-5 Authors K. Parameswari, Centre for Water Resources, College of Engineering Guindy, Anna University, Chennai, 600 025 India B. V. Mudgal, Centre for Water Resources, College of Engineering Guindy, Anna University, Chennai, 600 025 India Prakash Nelliyat, Centre for Water Resources, College of Engineering Guindy, Anna University, Chennai, 600 025 India Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description:    Forests contribute to livelihoods of rural people throughout the tropics. This paper adds to the emerging body of quantitative knowledge on absolute and relative economic importance, through both cash and subsistence income, of moist forests to households. Qualitative contextual information was collected in six villages in lowland Bolivia, followed by a structured survey of randomly selected households ( n  = 118) that included four quarterly income surveys. We employed a novel data collection approach that allows detailed estimation of total household accounts, including sources of forest income. We estimated the average forest income share of total annual household income (forest dependency) at 20%, ranging from 18 to 24%. Adding environmental income increased the average to 26%, being fairly constant across income quartiles at 24–28%. Absolute levels of forest income increased with total household income, while forest dependency was the highest in the best-off income quartile—the primary harvesters of forest products are better-off households. The pattern of high forest dependency among better-off households has also been reported from other countries, indicating that this pattern may be more common than advocated by conventional wisdom. Using ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions, we found significant determinants of absolute forest income to be household size, sex of household head and area of cultivated land; the significant determinants for forest dependency were level of education, whether household head was born in village and whether household was food self-sufficient. Better-off households were able to realise cash income from forests, while poorer households—in particular if headed by women—were more reliant on subsistence forest income. We argue that the differential patterns of forest income across income quartiles should be considered in future development interventions and that findings indicate a potential for forests to contribute to moving households out of poverty. Content Type Journal Article Pages 3-23 DOI 10.1007/s10668-011-9306-8 Authors Patricia Uberhuaga, Centre for Forest, Landscape and Planning, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, 1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark Carsten Smith-Hall, Centre for Forest, Landscape and Planning, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, 1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark Finn Helles, Centre for Forest, Landscape and Planning, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, 1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X Journal Volume Volume 14 Journal Issue Volume 14, Number 1

Description:    Macro- and microeconomic evidence suggests a positive role of remittances in preparing households against natural disasters and in coping with the loss afterward. Analysis of cross-country macroeconomic data shows that remittances increase in the aftermath of natural disasters in countries that have a larger number of migrants abroad. Analysis of household survey data in Bangladesh shows that per capita consumption was higher in remittance-receiving households than in others after the 1998 flood. Ethiopian households that receive international remittances seem to rely more on cash reserves and less on selling household assets or livestock to cope with drought. In Burkina Faso and Ghana, international remittance-receiving households, especially those receiving remittances from high-income developed countries, tend to have housing built of concrete rather than mud and greater access to communication equipment, suggesting that they are better prepared against natural disasters. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-23 DOI 10.1007/s10668-011-9330-8 Authors Sanket Mohapatra, World Bank, 1818 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA George Joseph, World Bank, 1818 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA Dilip Ratha, World Bank, 1818 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description:    This paper focuses on identified challenges for sustainable development across various sectors and the actions needed by different institutions and individuals for the achievement of a sustainable path. For finding solutions that impede sustainable development, emphasis is given to collaborative, inter- and trans-disciplinary problem-solving approaches. The ‘ecological modernization’ view is based on the belief that science and technology will result in continuous improvement in human welfare, while the emerging postmodern ‘ecological paradigm’ also emphasizes harmony with nature and other actors. Global societies are in the midst of a number of challenges: (1) implementation of existing and new hard- and soft-law instruments, (2) the degradation of natural resources, (3) an inadequate global mechanism for handling environmental and social responsibilities by the international community, (4) an unbalanced distribution of wealth, locally and internationally, (5) unethical and unsustainable business practices, (6) consequent unethical and unsustainable consumer practices, (7) selective application of ethical principles by rich countries and (8) the absence of norms of good conduct by powerful and wealthy peoples pertaining to sustainable development. Governments, civil societies, academicians, indigenous peoples, communities, businesses and international organizations need to become engaged in the formulation and enforcement of environmentally and ecologically sound development policies along with relevant research, education, training, awareness and a change in social values as provided in the Earth Charter to support actions for sustainable development. Content Type Journal Article Pages 67-83 DOI 10.1007/s10668-011-9309-5 Authors Waseem Ahmad, Department of Rural Economy, University of Alberta, 515 General Services Building, Edmonton, AB T6G 2H1, Canada Colin L. Soskolne, School of Public Health, University of Alberta, 3-12 University Terrace, 8303-112 Street, Edmonton, AB T6G 2T4, Canada Tanvir Ahmed, Department of Economics, Forman Christian College (A Chartered University), Lahore, Pakistan Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X Journal Volume Volume 14 Journal Issue Volume 14, Number 1

Description:    In industrialized countries, the idea of degrowth has emerged as a response to environmental, social, and economic crises. Realizing environmental limits to and failures of more than half a century of continual economic growth in terms of social progress and environmental sustainability, the degrowth paradigm calls for a downscaling of consumption and production for social equity and ecological sustainability. The call for economic degrowth is generally considered to be delimited to rich countries, where reduced consumption can save “ecological space” enabling people in poor countries to enjoy the benefits of economic growth. China, as one of the economically most expanding countries in the world, has dramatically improved its living standards, particularly along the Eastern coast, over the latest 30 years. However, China is absent from the international debates on growth. This article discusses the implications of the Western degrowth debates for China. Given the distinctive features of China’s development, the paper aims to enrich the degrowth debates, which have hitherto been dominated by Western perspectives. Based upon reflections on social, environmental, and moral dimensions of economic growth, the paper argues that limited natural resources may not continuously support universal affluence at the current level of the rich countries, a level that China is likely to reach within a few decades. Priority for growth in China should therefore be given to the poor regions of the country, and future growth should be beneficial to social and environmental development. Content Type Journal Article Pages 85-109 DOI 10.1007/s10668-011-9310-z Authors Jin Xue, Department of Development and Planning, Aalborg University, Fibigerstræde 13, 9220 Aalborg east, Denmark Finn Arler, Department of Development and Planning, Aalborg University, Fibigerstræde 13, 9220 Aalborg east, Denmark Petter Næss, Department of Development and Planning, Aalborg University, Fibigerstræde 13, 9220 Aalborg east, Denmark Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X Journal Volume Volume 14 Journal Issue Volume 14, Number 1

Description: Small amounts of pesticides reaching target insects Content Type Journal Article Category Editorial Pages 1-2 DOI 10.1007/s10668-011-9325-5 Authors David Pimentel, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA Michael Burgess, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X Journal Volume Volume 14 Journal Issue Volume 14, Number 1

Description:    Improving access to water and sanitation does not necessarily guarantee longevity of those systems transferred. Lessons from past interventions suggest that success depends on acceptance of the technology from the recipients and sustained use after donor assistance ends. A qualitative evaluation of urban community sanitation systems in Indonesia is conducted by use of a diagnostic tool, called RECAP, focusing on technology performance and experience. By means of surveys and qualitative interviews, the perceptions of involved stakeholders (local government, implementing agency and users) are evaluated. Conclusions suggest bridging the gap between governments and users in relation to maintenance and monitoring would improve the quality and longevity of interventions. Content Type Journal Article Pages 807-820 DOI 10.1007/s10668-011-9292-x Authors Elisa Roma, Centre for Water Science, Cranfield University, Cranfield, MK430AL UK Paul Jeffrey, Centre for Water Science, Cranfield University, Cranfield, MK430AL UK Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X Journal Volume Volume 13 Journal Issue Volume 13, Number 4

Description:    The paper addresses the topic of wealth accumulation in Russia. This phenomenon plays an important role for the understanding and forecasting the future economic and social development of the country. The “westernized” paradigm calls for hard honest work during the life and approves getting a reward in a form of wealth in the end. When brought to Russia, this paradigm faces the orthodox traditions and rules together with the post-soviet mental patterns. In this paper, we consider how the pattern “first accumulate wealth, then consume it” competes with its opposition, the pattern “first consume wealth, then accumulate it” in Russia. We base our discussion on the consumers’ simple optimization problem, which exhibits a bifurcation between those two patterns depending on the relation between the consumption “impatience” and the wealth growth rate. We also suggest a framework to model the phenomenon of unfair wealth through impulse type of wealth development. Content Type Journal Article Pages 923-937 DOI 10.1007/s10668-011-9298-4 Authors Vladislav V. Savin, Energy Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Nagornaya, 31-2, 117186 Moscow, Russia Elena A. Rovenskaya, VMK Faculty, Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory, MSU, 2-nd Educational Building, Moscow, Russia Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X Journal Volume Volume 13 Journal Issue Volume 13, Number 5

Description:    This research proposes for the introduction of a recycling system in the Gambia to enhance sustainable municipal solid waste management. Poor infrastructures, coupled with inadequate resources and lack of funding, work against the optimization of a MSW disposal service. In the authors’ view, authorities in charge of waste management need to change not only behaviors, but modernize their processes. Recycling technology is a key part of the solution. A model has been developed which suggest the involvement of stakeholders to achieve meaningful sustainable MSWM. This can be achieved by recognizing the role of the informal sector through community-based organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and the private sector. The open dump approach is leading to severe environmental consequences as the groundwater and soil within the dump is been contaminated. In this study, an integrated municipal solid waste management approach was developed with a model to help achieve sustainable municipal solid waste management. Resource recovery, not waste disposal, must be the ultimate goal with clearly defined end user markets so that the recovery loop is complete. Mandatory sorting of waste at household level would help greatly in making recycling activity successful. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1065-1080 DOI 10.1007/s10668-011-9305-9 Authors E. S. Sanneh, Institute of Engineering Technology, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan Allen H. Hu, Institute of Environmental Engineering and Management, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan Y. M. Chang, Institute of Environmental Engineering and Management, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan Edrisa Sanyang, EC-Child Fund Water & Sanitation Project, Banjul, The Gambia Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X Journal Volume Volume 13 Journal Issue Volume 13, Number 6

Description:    The developing countries i.e., the non-Annex-I countries (parties to the Kyoto Protocol but not responsible to any reduction target yet) in the Kyoto Protocol whose economies are in transition are also allowed to reduce GHG emissions. Among these, the countries that have accepted the Kyoto Protocol may be benefited from CDM projects to promote sustainable development. The developed countries i.e., the Annex-I countries (that have signed the Kyoto Protocol & are responsible to have specific GHG emission reduction target) or the investing countries, in return, have privilege to purchase CER credits (in units equivalent to one tonne of CO 2 gas emission reduction) to meet the emission target as specified in the Kyoto Protocol. The key step in understanding about CDM is to grasp the concept of “baseline” and “additionality”. The “ Baseline ” is the emissions level that would have existed if a CDM project had not happened. The feature of an approved CDM project is that the planned reductions would not occur without the additional incentive provided by emission reduction credits; this concept is known as “ Additionality ”. According to environmental additionality concept, baseline emission minus project emission is equal to emissions reduction. “Investment Additionality,” ultimately rejected during negotiation of the “ Marrakech Accords” and “Financial Additionality,” are the two important concepts. The concept of trading of CER matches to the idea of Pigovian tax (equal to the negative externality and which is considered one of the “traditional” means of bringing a modicum of market forces) in Economics, making pollution more costly to the polluter, as the polluters have negative cost since they save money by polluting; hence, there are supposed negative externalities associated with the market activity. Economic theory predicts that in an economy where the cost of reaching mutual agreement between parties is high and where pollution is diffuse, Pigovian tax will be an efficient way to promote the public interest and will lead to an improvement of the quality of life measured by the Genuine Progress Indicator and other human economic indicators, as well as higher gross domestic product growth. We can seek a level of pollution such that the marginal savings (MS) to one polluting unit from pollution (−MC) is equal to marginal damage (MD) from pollution over the entire population, since pollution is a public bad i.e., MS ( x *) = ∑MD i ( x *) where ∑D i ( x ) is the total damage. Though the responsibility of reduction in emission does not lie on the non-Annex-I countries, still effort of maintaining global emission balance can be expected equally from developed and developing countries. The responsibilities of Kyoto Protocol are (a) to reduce global GHG emissions, (b) to bring about sustainable development in the developing countries lie on above two groups since its effect on February 16, 2005. Different polluters have different costs of pollution control. The least costly way of controlling pollution from various sources that reflects different costs of pollution control making the set of environmental regulations to achieve the emission target at the lowest cost makes the regulation cost-effective. Though efficiency is not attainable for many regulations, cost-effectiveness is attainable. Content Type Journal Article Pages 833-844 DOI 10.1007/s10668-011-9293-9 Authors Dipankar Das, Department of Environment, West Bengal Pollution Control Board, Kolkata, West Bengal, India Partha P. Sengupta, National Institute of Technology, B 6/A, NIT Campus, Durgapur, West Bengal 713209, India Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X Journal Volume Volume 13 Journal Issue Volume 13, Number 5

Description:    Biodiversity conservation is critical for the continued supply of ecosystem services to secure the sustainability of livelihoods, especially for poor rural people in developing countries. Current rates of biodiversity loss need to be curbed by using effective interventions and decision-making that again require timely information. Undertaking a community sustainability assessment to generate and structure this information for grassroots levels is critical for decision-making and actions. This paper presents insights from a community sustainability assessment initiative undertaken in Lesotho within a trans-boundary project area known as the Maloti-Drakensberg Transfrontier Project. A qualitative case study approach was employed through a combination of several data collection techniques, including a literature review, field observations, key informant interviews, group discussions and key informant workshops. Study participants consisted of members of the community conservation forums from three districts that had been established by the project. Regarding progress towards the sustainability of biodiversity in the study area, the results indicated that current practices are unsustainable, more from the point of view of the socio-ecological components than the socio-cultural and spiritual or the socio-economic components. Consequently, there is a need to raise awareness at the community level and implement action plans to realize changes that support the sustainability of biodiversity in the long term. Content Type Journal Article Pages 45-65 DOI 10.1007/s10668-011-9308-6 Authors André Pelser, Department of Sociology, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa Limpho Letsela, Centre for Environmental Management, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X Journal Volume Volume 14 Journal Issue Volume 14, Number 1

Description:    Using household-level survey data, this study investigates farmers’ perceptions on untreated wastewater use for irrigation of vegetable farms in urban and peri-urban Kumasi of Ghana. Empirical results from an ordered probit model show that there is some relationship between personal characteristics of farmers such as age, education and gender, and perceptions of farmers on health-related risks of untreated wastewater use for irrigation. Policy efforts should be geared toward updating the knowledge, skills and attitudes of producers through frequent training and workshops so that wastewater irrigation farmers in Ghana would better appreciate health-related risks of waster irrigation and how to adopt risk mitigating strategies. Further research for a more in-depth analysis on those relationships in the short-term with immediate emphasis on improving adoption of safer irrigation technologies among wastewater irrigation farmers is recommended. Content Type Journal Article Pages 135-150 DOI 10.1007/s10668-011-9312-x Authors Victor Owusu, Department of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Extension, Kwame Nkrumah University Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana John-Eudes Andivi Bakang, Department of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Extension, Kwame Nkrumah University Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana Robert Clement Abaidoo, Department of Biology, Kwame Nkrumah University Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana Modeste Lawakilea Kinane, African Development Bank, Tunis-Belvedère, Tunisia Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X Journal Volume Volume 14 Journal Issue Volume 14, Number 1

Description:    United Nations estimates indicate that up to 70% of the world’s poor are female, and women in developing countries constitute the majority of the labour force, playing a key role in managing community resources and helping to improve food security and protect the environment. Increased attention in recent years has been focused on the potential role of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in improving the incomes and health of women in developing countries. NTFPs farming and marketing are very critical for the economic empowerment of rural poor, particularly women. Despite this potential, the contribution of NTFPs farming to the empowerment of women remains largely undervalued and understudied. This paper examines the potential contribution of NTFPs farming in poverty reduction and livelihood improvement of women in Ghana using the Sefwi Wiawso District (SWD) and Bibiani-Bekwai District (BBD) in the Western Region of Ghana as a case study. The paper explores the contribution of NTFPs farming to the total annual income, acquisition of assets, health, and food security of women through participatory research methods. ANOVA and Pearson Correlation ( p  〈 0.05) show that a significant association exists between total annual income of women, acquisition of assets, health, food security, and the income earned from NTFPs in the SWD and BBD. The study revealed that NTFPs can contribute significantly to the economic empowerment of women. The paper asserts that commercialisation of NTFPs will have a greater impact on women’s livelihoods and therefore any opportunity for increasing their involvement is very essential for the empowerment and sustainable development of rural communities in Ghana. Content Type Journal Article Pages 863-878 DOI 10.1007/s10668-011-9295-7 Authors Albert Ahenkan, Human Ecology Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussel, Belgium Emmanuel Boon, Human Ecology Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussel, Belgium Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X Journal Volume Volume 13 Journal Issue Volume 13, Number 5

Description:    By 2012, Hammarby Sjöstad, a former large industrial harbor area in southern Stockholm, Sweden, will be a fully developed residential district containing approximately 11,000 apartments and accommodating 35,000 people. The transformation of the area began in 1996, and the development soon became renowned for its ambitious environmental program, inspired by Agenda 21 (United Nations in Rio declaration on environment and development . United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), Rio de Janeiro, 1992 ) and the Sydney 2000 Olympics in Australia (Newman in Landsc Urban Plan 44:219–226, 1999 ). Using results based on literature reviews, in-depth interviews, discussions with focus groups, and quantitative data, this paper attempts to gain insight into how the environmental program influenced the planning and performance of the district with regard to sustainable urban development. In doing so, three important conclusions were maintained that could be valuable for similar projects concerning the planning and development of sustainable urban districts. First, the environmental program proved vital to the development process of Hammarby Sjöstad, specifically in its drive to create a sustainable urban district. When planning on improving the sustainability of future districts, such a program should be introduced and integrated earlier in the planning stage of the district. Second, the metabolic flows of Hammarby Sjöstad were reduced as a result of the integrated system—the Hammarby Model—of Hammarby Sjöstad. In order to reduce the metabolic flows in future urban districts even further, it is important to facilitate the integration of technical innovations into existing integrated systems. Third, this case study showed that there was a loss of valid and credible data related to the aims and goals of the environmental program of Hammarby Sjöstad. In future urban districts, it is of the utmost importance to include a clear structure of the assessment process in the environmental program, which would ensure the quality of gathered data and facilitate the development of even better sustainable urban districts in the future. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1043-1064 DOI 10.1007/s10668-011-9304-x Authors Sofie Pandis Iverot, Department of Industrial Ecology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden Nils Brandt, Department of Industrial Ecology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X Journal Volume Volume 13 Journal Issue Volume 13, Number 6

Description: Global climate interdisciplinary science for the COP17 in Durban, South Africa Content Type Journal Article Category Editorial Pages 955-956 DOI 10.1007/s10668-011-9317-5 Authors Luc Hens, Free University Brussels, Brussels, Belgium David Pimentel, Free University Brussels, Brussels, Belgium Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X Journal Volume Volume 13 Journal Issue Volume 13, Number 6

Description:    At the national scale, forest cover in Guatemala declined at an annual rate of 1.2% during the past quarter century because of settlement that removed primary forests in the northern region of the country; however, the majority of the population of Guatemala still resides in the densely populated central highlands and has extracted timber and fuelwood from adjacent forests for centuries. Using baseline data recorded in 1987 and 1996, this article reexamined the sustainability of a municipal-communal pine forest in San José La Arada, a municipality in eastern Guatemala. The pine forest declined from the period 1987 to 1996 because of overextraction of timber and fuelwood. Forest structure and forest use were reexamined from the period 1996 to 2007 to test the hypothesis that the forest continued to decline. Forest characteristics such as stand density, basal area, tree height, and evidence of forest use were measured to replicate the procedures from previous work at the study area. To understand changes in forest structure and forest use in the context of the rise in remittances and the introduction of decentralized forest governance that emerged since 1996, a household survey was conducted in two adjacent villages. Forest structure improved from 1996 to 2007. From 1996 to 2007, forest characteristics such as stand density, basal area, tree height, and forest regeneration improved and evidence of forest use decreased in the municipal-communal pine forest. The influence of large amounts of remittances from the United States and other regions of Guatemala to households in the adjacent villages and the decentralization of forest governance largely explains the shift toward forest sustainability in San José La Arada. Content Type Journal Article Pages 25-43 DOI 10.1007/s10668-011-9307-7 Authors Curtis D. Holder, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, CO 80918, USA Gregory Chase, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, CO 80918, USA Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X Journal Volume Volume 14 Journal Issue Volume 14, Number 1

Description:    The Campus Demotechnic Index (CDI) was modified from the Demotechnic Index (D-Index) to serve as an index of energy use for US colleges and universities. CDI values were calculated by assessing the total campus energy used for the built and mobile environments against energy required to meet the basal metabolic demand of the total campus population. Like the D-Index, the CDI measured the scalar quantity of energy used relative to the quantity of energy required for simple survival on a per capita basis, thus providing a rational metric for comparison among institutions. For the interval 2000–2005, CDI was calculated for 64 US higher education institutions and compared using maximum, minimum, mean and median CDI values, total gigajoules used, campus population, and consumption-adjusted population. Wilcoxon signed rank test results compared pair-by-pair differences of ranked CDI values from 2000 to 2005 to determine whether CDI values were significantly increasing or decreasing over time. In general, CDI values increased over time, but increases over the 6-year interval were only significantly higher in 8 of 30 two-year comparisons; in 2005, CDI values ranged from 1.1 to 56.3 (mean = 11.9, median = 8.2, n  = 64), whereas in 2000, CDI values ranged from 2.0 to 53.0 (mean = 12.6, median = 9.1, n  = 22). Results suggest that the CDI may serve as a useful metric for tracking campus energy efficiency over time as well as a means of comparison of energy use among institutions. Content Type Journal Article Pages 111-134 DOI 10.1007/s10668-011-9311-y Authors Leisha Vance, Environmental Dynamics, 113 Ozark Hall, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA Stephen K. Boss, Environmental Dynamics Program, Department of Geosciences, OZAR 113, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X Journal Volume Volume 14 Journal Issue Volume 14, Number 1

Description:    Addressing urban housing crisis is an enormous challenge for most of the countries due to the increasing cost of the building material. Therefore, affordable alternative building material can make a breakthrough to the urban housing crisis. In the light of current success of stabilised earth construction in urban low-cost housing, it is important to find out the potential drivers that can help to adopt this building material. This paper aims to identify and highlight these drivers from the method of literature review and validates through a Delphi technique. Content Type Journal Article Pages 993-1006 DOI 10.1007/s10668-011-9301-0 Authors Mohammad Sharif Zami, Department of Architecture, College of Environmental Design, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), P. O. Box: 1802, Dhahran, 31261 Saudi Arabia Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X Journal Volume Volume 13 Journal Issue Volume 13, Number 6

Description: This energy comment is a response to a paper by Sergei Komlev, from the Contract Structuring and Pricing Directorate of Gazprom Export, which challenged the conclusions of previous OIES research on European gas pricing and suggested that we had “refused to engage constructively with those who offer opposing viewpoints.” In this comment, Jonathan Stern and Howard Rogers set out the differences between their research and that of Sergei Komlev and respond to his criticisms. They conclude that that contractual linkage of European natural gas prices to oil no longer has any market reality, and is only held in place by existing long-term contracts. By contrast they suggest that Komlev is refusing to recognize that the era of oil-linked gas pricing is drawing to a close in Europe (and is subject to increasingly serious challenge in Asia) and also refuses to accept that such changes represent a secular trend which will not be reversed. This is far from an academic argument: the extent to which Gazprom is willing to change its views on pricing will have a significant impact on Russian gas supplies to Europe, and hence on the future of the entire European gas market.

Description:    This paper is a reflection of an innovative project that complements existing higher education for sustainable development (HESD) approaches within universities by providing an alternative path to embed sustainable lifestyles within the student population. It presents the SLEUTH project; an initiative born out of the need to reduce energy consumption of students at university but that, due to its systemic design, transforms and goes beyond purely energy reduction and brings Happiness as an approach to build sustainable lifestyles. This is the distinct feature of this initiative, proposing it as adding value to existing HESD approaches. The paper describes and discusses the collaborative building process, implementation and results in detail. The experiences gathered during the project are used and analysed through ‘participant observation’, ‘documents’, ‘questionnaires’ and ‘theme-ing coding’ techniques as a means to understand the richness and diversity of the data resulting from a combination of formal and informal learning settings. Through empirical evidence, this analysis presents ‘real life’ evidence to suggest, firstly the initiative’s design success, its impact on energy consumption and contribution to happiness and sustainable lifestyles. Secondly, a successful example for the contribution to existing HESD frameworks that move away from indoctrination and instead leans towards pro-activeness, self-organisation and voluntary collective action. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-21 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9382-4 Authors M. Carolina Escobar-Tello, Loughborough Design School, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, LE11 3TU UK Tracy Bhamra, Loughborough Design School, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, LE11 3TU UK Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description:    This paper assesses the potential loss of irrigation benefits in reallocating water from irrigation to meet requirements for environmental flows (e-flows) in the Upper Ganga Basin (UGB) in northern India. The minimum requirement for e-flows in the UGB is 32 billion cubic meters (BCM), or 42 % of the mean annual runoff. The current runoff during the low-flow months falls below the minimum requirement for e-flows by 5.1 BCM. Depending on irrigation efficiency, reallocation of 41–51 % of the water from canal irrigation withdrawals can meet this deficit in minimum e-flows. The marginal productivity of canal irrigation consumptive water use (CWU), estimated from a panel regression with data from 32 districts from 1991 to 2004, assesses the potential loss of benefits in diverting water away from crop production. In the UGB, canal irrigation contributes to only 8 % of the total CWU of 56 BCM, and the marginal productivity of canal irrigation CWU across districts is also very low, with a median of 0.03 USD/m 3 . Therefore, at present, the loss of benefits is only 1.2–1.6 % of the gross value of crop production. This loss of benefits can be overcome with an increase in irrigation efficiency or marginal productivity. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-21 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9385-1 Authors Upali A. Amarasinghe, International Water Management Institute, South Asia Regional Office, No 401/5 ICRISAT Campus, Patancheru, Hyderabad, 502 324 Andhra Pradesh, India Vladimir Smakhtin, International Water Management Institute, Head Quarters, Colombo, Sri Lanka Luna Bharati, International Water Management Institute, Nepal Office, Kathmandu, Nepal Ravinder P. S. Malik, International Water Management Institute, New Delhi Office, New Delhi, India Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description:    This study presents an evaluation of a participatory bird census (PBC) project that has been administered to coffee farmers in Colombia. Our objectives were (1) to evaluate the effect of the PBC project on conservation knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of coffee farmers and (2) to learn about the barriers farmers perceive toward adopting conservation practices. We conducted 261 interviews on four groups to control for the effects of involvement with an environmental coffee certification program (Rainforest Alliance—RA) and the PBC project. The four groups were (1) non-PBC participant, non-RA certified; (2) PBC participant, non-RA certified; (3) non-PBC participant, RA certified; and (4) PBC participant, RA certified. PBC participant/RA and PBC participant/non-RA were more knowledgeable about migratory and threatened birds. PBC participant/RA, PBC participant/non-RA, and non-PBC participant/RA groups believed they had the skills to perform bird conservation practices on their farms. A majority of respondents indicated that they were performing bird conservation practices and had positive attitudes toward birds. Farmers believed that lack of environmental awareness and lack of knowledge were the main barriers to perform bird conservation practices. Evaluating participatory programs with Colombian farmers can reveal environmental literacy improvements, but self-reported surveys may not be adequate to ascertain attitude changes and adoption of conservation practices. Direct observations on individual farms would be required to determine the impacts on such outreach efforts. Bird conservation seems popular with Colombian coffee farmers, and outreach programs that give detailed biodiversity management information could help aid bird conservation efforts on coffee farms. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-25 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9383-3 Authors Gloria M. Lentijo, Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, 215 Newins-Ziegler Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA Mark E. Hostetler, Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, 215 Newins-Ziegler Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description:    Existing approaches to sustainability assessment are typically characterized as being either “top–down” or “bottom–up.” While top–down approaches are commonly adopted by businesses, bottom–up approaches are more often adopted by civil society organizations and communities. Top–down approaches clearly favor standardization and commensurability between other sustainability assessment efforts, to the potential exclusion of issues that really matter on the ground. Conversely, bottom–up approaches enable sustainability initiatives to speak directly to the concerns and issues of communities, but lack a basis for comparability. While there are clearly contexts in which one approach can be favored over another, it is equally desirable to develop mechanisms that mediate between both. In this paper, we outline a methodology for framing sustainability assessment and developing indicator sets that aim to bridge these two approaches. The methodology incorporates common components of bottom–up assessment: constituency-based engagement processes and opportunity to identify critical issues and indicators. At the same time, it uses the idea of a “knowledge base,” to help with the selection of standardized, top–down indicators. We briefly describe two projects where the aspects of the methodology have been trialed with urban governments and communities, and then present the methodology in full, with an accompanying description of a supporting software system. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-19 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9384-2 Authors Liam Magee, Global Cities Institute, RMIT University, 96.2.7c, RMIT University, 17 Lygon Street, Carlton, Melbourne, VIC 3053, Australia Andy Scerri, Global Cities Institute, RMIT University, 96.2.7c, RMIT University, 17 Lygon Street, Carlton, Melbourne, VIC 3053, Australia Paul James, Global Cities Institute, RMIT University, 96.2.7c, RMIT University, 17 Lygon Street, Carlton, Melbourne, VIC 3053, Australia James A. Thom, School of Computer Science and Information Technology, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia Lin Padgham, School of Computer Science and Information Technology, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia Sarah Hickmott, School of Computer Science and Information Technology, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia Hepu Deng, School of Business, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia Felicity Cahill, School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description: This report was supported by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Prosperity Fund for Latin America. It examines the feasibility of private investment in wind power in Colombia within the current regulatory framework.  It focuses especially on the regulatory methodology for estimating the “firm energy” that wind power plants are capable of providing in Colombia to back up hydro generation during extended periods of drought (El Niño weather events).  Our conclusion is that the current methodology probably underestimates wind’s firm energy contribution, possibly by a substantial amount. This in turn means that wind power stations receive a lower firm energy payment than they should.  We consider this to be an important barrier to investment in wind power in Colombia. We recommend that the Colombian Government reconsider their methodology for estimating the firm energy capacity of wind power and of other (non hydro) sources of renewable power.

Description:    Green spaces considered natural remnants in urban environments play a key role in promoting environmental quality and forming a sustainable city. Nowadays, development of urban spaces has taken a hasty growth. In the meanwhile, the natural green spaces are severely damaged. The current study aims at investigating the trend of changes in green space of Tabriz City, the second large industrial city in Iran, on the basis of landscape ecology principles. In order to prepare the land-cover maps, Landsat TM and IRS LISS-III of the years 1989 and 2006 were applied. Alongside, landscape percentage metrics, the largest patch index, number of patches, patch density, edge density, total edge, class area and landscape shape index were also used to analyse the changes. Metric analysis of the landscape within the studied years revealed that a large part of the region has enjoyed a rapid growth (equivalent to 64.5 %) in constructions. As the obtained results showed, the smallest landscape percentage (3.9 %) in the study area is belonged to the municipal green space, while the largest landscape percentage (66 %) is allocated to the barren land. This shows that the constructions have not balanced with creation of new green spaces, and the lack of green space per capita continues to be felt. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-9 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9381-5 Authors Parisa Olad Ghaffari, Young Research Club, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran Seyed Masoud Monavari, Department of Environment and Energy, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description: The earthquake and tsunami which left its toll of destruction and the tragic loss of life on Japan’s eastern seaboard on 11th March 2011 was a natural disaster of the highest order.  This working paper addresses methodically and in detail the extent of the impact of the events of 11th March 2011 on Japan’s energy complex and describes how, through higher utilisation of fossil fuel plant and enforced and voluntary demand conservation measures, the country has coped with this unprecedented reduction in generation capacity. Looking forward, the key uncertainty is the policy-driven path of future nuclear generation. It is in this context that the paper provides a timely and robust evaluation of Japan’s future LNG import requirements based on a range of scenarios regarding the future utilisation of operable nuclear power facilities. Importantly the paper also analyses the strong growth in industrial consumption of LNG in the period prior to 2011 and identifies this as a continuing source of demand growth tempered perhaps by the prevailing linkage of imported LNG prices to crude oil. Compared to the 2010 LNG consumptions levels of 69.8 million tonnes, the paper shows a range for 2015 from 75.5 to 84.8 million tonnes, and for 2020 78.1 to 88.7 million tonnes, depending on decisions to re-start nuclear plant.

Description:    When exploiting forest resources, the resource use must be sustainable if its use is to support its function in the natural ecosystem. The African mahogany, a prized timber species, is widely exploited, raising policy concerns about the management of forest resources to meet the social, economic, and ecological needs of present and future generations. This paper explores, for the purpose of policy implication, the relationship between the exportation and deforestation of African mahoganies. The analysis employed a Granger causality test within the error correction model to evaluate the direction of causality between African mahoganies exports and deforestation in Ghana. The results suggested that in the short run, there was significant ( P  〈 0.01) unidirectional causality from African mahoganies exports to deforestation. However, there was no directional causality from deforestation to mahogany exports. Thus, mahogany extraction and logging in general are among the major factors contributing to deforestation in Ghana. The general assessment of historical trends in the extraction levels of the two main genera of African mahoganies revealed that Entandrophragma cylindricum and Khaya ivorensis have been the most exploited species over the years. Improvements in, and the enforcement of, existing forest institutions and incentives, as well as related policies, could minimise the rate of deforestation not only of the African mahogany but also in timber logging, thus stemming forest degradation and deforestation in the country. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9373-5 Authors Jones Abrefa Danquah, Faculty of Science and Forestry, School of Forest Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Post Office Box 111, 80101 Joensuu, Finland Daniel Bruce Sarpong, Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, School of Agriculture, College of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences, University of Ghana, P. O. Box LG 68, Legon, Accra, Ghana Ari Pappinen, Faculty of Science and Forestry, School of Forest Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Post Office Box 111, 80101 Joensuu, Finland Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description:    The materially intensive consumption patterns and lifestyles present a major challenge to sustainability. The major part of consumption is determined in households; therefore, most of the environmental load is allocated to households as well. In order to examine how environmental impact by household consumption varies during the prosperous period, one needs to explore the alteration of household consumption structure, considering that discrete consumption expenditure categories influence environmental impact distinctly. Regarding that, alterations of household consumption expenditure structures are also partially influenced by European integration process. So convergence of new member states of the EU to the old ones by household consumption structure was analyzed. For estimation of occurrence and the extent of household consumption structure, X-convergence was applied. Therefore, the results showed that during the period of 1995–2007, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania and Slovenia were the most successful and Latvia with Poland achieved the least in converging toward the EU-15 consumption expenditure structure. According to evaluation of distinct consumption categories in relation to acidifying compounds and greenhouse gas emissions intensities, it was revealed that alterations of household consumption expenditure structure led to smaller levels of household environmental impact with the exception of Hungary. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-21 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9386-0 Authors Genovaitė Liobikienė, Department of Environmental Sciences, Vytautas Magnus University, Vileikos str. 8, 44404 Kaunas, Lithuania Justina Mandravickaitė, Baltic Institute of Advanced Technology, Saulėtekio av. 15, 10224 Vilnius, Lithuania Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description:    The hyper-eutrophicated Krishnagiri reservoir is situated in hot tropical and semiarid climate zone in South India. There are 16 villages in the command area, which are directly benefited by this reservoir, and water from the reservoir is used for irrigation, fish rearing, livestock rearing and recreation purposes. The reservoir is located in an agricultural watershed, and the rate of soil erosion in the catchment area is very high. Thus, the reservoir is severely affected by sedimentation, and half of its capacity was reduced. Previous studies in Krishnagiri reservoir clearly indicate the lack of information on the quality of sediments and dynamics of nutrient in the reservoir. Hence, the present study was conducted on bottom sediments, and it included the assessment of physicochemical characteristics and nutrients, such as composition, redox potential, moisture content, organic carbon, organic matter, total iron, manganese, calcium carbonate, different phosphorus fractions and total phosphorus. The increasing trend in organic matter and also the significant change from positive to high negative values of redox potential clearly indicate the inflow of high organic load which may result from the disposal of sewage and industrial waste water in the upstream catchment side. The high concentration of inorganic phosphorus fractions at the inflow point of the reservoir obviously implies that there was a significant input of nutrients into the reservoir. Hence, the study concludes that the rainfall, soil erosion and runoff are the major environmental factors for the input and accumulation of large quantities of nutrients in the bottom sediments of Krishnagiri reservoir during the study period. The present study clearly suggests for a careful investigation into sediment nutrients in Krishnagiri reservoir, and it is also necessary to assess the role of sediments in the phosphorus dynamics and its significant effect on eutrophication. This study demonstrates that the examination of physicochemical characteristics and nutrients in the bottom sediments is a helpful tool to identify the sources of nutrients to the reservoir. The baseline data provided in this paper will be helpful for the policy makers to frame better policies for the sustainable management of water quality in Krishnagiri reservoir. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9388-y Authors Velu Sudha, Centre for Water Resources, Anna University, Chennai, 600 025 Tamil Nadu, India Neelakanda Kanniaperumalpillai Ambujam, Centre for Water Resources, Anna University, Chennai, 600 025 Tamil Nadu, India Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description: This paper by Howard Rogers addresses the issue of the challenges in establishing Carbon Capture and Sequestration at a commercial scale in the power generation sector, especially as this has been repeatedly proposed as a key policy in furtherance of CO2 emission abatement in the last decade. For those who have become increasingly frustrated by claims about, rather than demonstrations of, the contribution which natural gas can make to a low carbon economy, it has become important to understand more of the detail behind the headlines of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). This paper shows that all aspects of the implementation of CCS projects are complex, albeit that the underlying technologies have been used individually in the petrochemical, refining and upstream industries for decades. Costs, and technical and commercial complexity go a long way towards explaining why there is no gas-fired power plant with CO2 capture and storage in operation or under construction anywhere in the world. The few gas-related CCS projects which exist mainly serve to process natural gas to grid specification and either store CO2 close to gas production sites, or use it for enhanced oil recovery. With slower than expected progress of other forms of power generation, UK policy makers have come to the realisation that gas-fired capacity will remain important for a considerable period of time. This in turn will mean that the question of whether CCS should be fitted (and retrofitted) to gas-fired power generation is likely to move higher up the UK’s climate policy agenda. Howard Rogers’ study demonstrates that, on paper, gas-fired generation with CCS can be more competitive than the low carbon generation options such as Offshore Wind, generally assumed to grow most significantly in the UK over the next decade but the commercial complexities of CCS projects set out in this paper, do not give cause for optimism about its future development, absent a clear and sustained commitment from government. It is no part of the OIES Gas Research Programme’s remit to promote natural gas, either in the UK or more generally. However, our research increasingly suggests that the likely future role of gas in energy balances has been, and continues to be, under-estimated in a range of countries, including perhaps until very recently, the UK.

Description:    There are hardly any critical discussions of sustainable development indicator sets designed for use at the national level. This article aims at rectifying this omission in critical academic research by contributing to the discourse on environmental sustainability with an assessment of the indicator set used for the measurement of sustainable development in Germany. It will evaluate to what extent the sustainable development concept is reflected in the structure of the strategy and analyse in how far fundamental environmental issues are covered by the indicator set. The discussion will show that the environmental dimension of the sustainability concept is not sufficiently integrated in the German National Sustainable Development Strategy. Although the strategy’s indicator set contains a range of environmental indicators, gaps in the German indicator set become apparent when contrasted with important issues of sustainability. It will be concluded that the environmental dimension of the sustainable development concept is not the recurrent theme in either the strategy or the indicator set. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-18 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9380-6 Authors Falko Leukhardt, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK Simon Allen, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description: This paper by Patrick Heather assesses the development of the European Continental Gas Trading Hubs. It is a natural successor to his 2010 paper ‘The Evolution and Functioning of the Traded Gas Market in Britain’.  Although the drivers and challenges for gas trading on the European Continent have been different from those of Britain, the desire for change at an EU policy level, the catalyst of the economic recession and the sea-change in the acceptance of trading have all contributed to an astonishing development in European gas hubs over the past few years. Based on extensive research and discussion with the key actors intimately involved, the paper provides deep insights into the characteristics of the individual hubs, the reasons behind their particular evolutionary path and their characterisation as ‘Trading Hubs’ (NBP and TTF), ‘Transit Hubs (ZEE and CEGH) and ‘Transition Hubs’ (GPL, NCG, PEGs and PSV); a framework which assists the reader in better understanding the current and future role of each.

Description:    The article studies the nature of current policy and management practice in Thailand on vegetation burnings and haze pollution and examines how these take into account heterogeneity and complexity of local conditions and causal factors on the ground. Chang Mai province’s recent haze episodes are used as case study. The country’s policy regime on vegetation burning and haze pollution is characterized as command-and-control and highly regulatory. Authors argue that haze problem is framed by the central and provincial government as a purely an administrative task of control and penalizing perpetrators of fire. This fails to take into account the heterogeneity and complexity of local conditions and drivers of burning occurrences, which in Chang Mai involves a variety of widely diffused forest and farming-based livelihood activities, such as hunting and forest product gathering, swidden farming, and burning of agricultural residues in rice cultivation. This state simplification in policy combines well with and is further reinforced by a centralized, top-down, and institutional landscape and functioning of government in decision-making, enabling the policy to cascade down to the province, districts, and sub-districts basically unaltered. Further, traditional administrative separatism between ministries and their provincial counterparts undermines the possibility of area-wide planning and integration of responses. The authors’ recommend a major policy shift, among others, including components of using local research on causal factors as tool for planning and policy, instituting incentives and reward systems for would-be fire igniters, area-wide local-transboundary approach, and strengthening autonomy of local government bodies. Authors have used documents review, secondary sources, and key informant interviews. Content Type Journal Article Category Case Study Pages 1-18 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9358-4 Authors Yongyut Tiyapairat, Urban Environmental Management, Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani, 12120 Thailand Edsel E. Sajor, Urban Environmental Management, Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani, 12120 Thailand Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description:    This article is a case study to compare the economic viabilities of biogas generation and compost projects in a palm oil mill in Malaysia with and without clean development mechanism (CDM). Biogas is captured from anaerobic ponds or digester tanks treating palm oil mill effluent (POME) and converted to green renewable electricity for grid connection, while compost is produced from the shredded empty fruit bunch and raw untreated POME. The both technologies were compared by considering the changes of the materials flow and energy balances. A palm oil mill with a capacity of 54 t fresh fruit bunch per hour has the potential to produce either 6.9 GWh of electricity from biogas or fertilizer equivalent to 488 t of nitrogen, 76 t of phosphorus and 1,065 t of potassium per year. The economic analysis for 10 years project term analysis indicated that CDM gave a significant impact and ensured economic viability for both projects with 25 % of internal rate of return (IRR), RM 12.39 million of net present value (NPV) and 3.5 years of payback period (PBP) for biogas project, whereas 31 % of IRR, RM 10.87 million of NPV and 2.9 years of PBP for compost project, respectively. In addition, sensitivity analysis indicated that the profitability of both projects will vary depending on the economic situation, such as electricity price which is based on the government policy, whereas compost price that depend on fertilizer market price with 43 % NPV change in 20 % range of fertilizer value. Content Type Journal Article Category Case Study Pages 1-15 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9371-7 Authors Tatsuya Yoshizaki, Department of Biological Functions and Engineering, Graduate School of Life Science and System Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology, 2-4 Hibikino, Wakamatsu-ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, 808-0196 Japan Yoshihito Shirai, Department of Biological Functions and Engineering, Graduate School of Life Science and System Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology, 2-4 Hibikino, Wakamatsu-ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, 808-0196 Japan Mohd Ali Hassan, Department of Bioprocess Technology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Malaysia Azhari Samsu Baharuddin, Department of Process and Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Malaysia Nik Mustapha Raja Abdullah, Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Malaysia Alawi Sulaiman, Faculty of Plantation and Agrotechnology, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, 40450 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia Zainuri Busu, FELDA Palm Industries Sdn Bhd, Balai Felda, Jalan Gurney Satu, 50400 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description: The Controvery over Energy Subsidies

Description: The countries of the Middle East and Africa sit on large reserves of natural gas, but their share of international trade looks unlikely to increase significantly by 2020. Fast-growing domestic demand is, in many of these countries, putting considerable pressure on domestic gas supply, resulting in reduced exports and growing import needs. Artificially-low domestic gas prices are a key feature of this state of play. They need to be reformed if these regions – especially the Middle East and North Africa – are to contribute to international gas trade more as a source of exports than as a growing demand (and import) centre. However, reforms of gas (and energy) prices remain tentative because of the political economy logic in which they tend to be rooted and in which governments appear to be locked. This is not to say that solutions do not exist – remedies can be devised based on existing experiments and country-specific circumstances. This paper analyses the political economy of domestic pricing in gas-rich developing countries in the Middle East and Africa, and chronicles the pricing mechanisms in the main export and import contracts in these regions, helping assess the disconnect between domestic prices and international prices and its implications for gas use in these regions.

Description:    Sub-Saharan African countries are being strongly urged to enhance their rice production, because their rice consumption and importation rates have been rapidly increasing in recent years. Areas planted to rice in Africa are classified agro-ecologically into rainfed upland, rainfed lowland, and irrigated. Rainfed lowland includes extensive areas of unexploited land that has great potential for the promotion of rice growing. For the unexploited rainfed lowlands of Ghana, we have been studying the development of low-cost rice-farming systems that require no large-scale irrigation or land reclamation. For such systems, it is important to select suitable areas where water for rice farming can be obtained naturally; floodwaters offer promise for this purpose. Delineation and mapping of floodwater prone areas suitable for rice production is important for successful utilization of this land resource. Here, we propose a method of assessing flood probability from submergence frequency, as estimated from satellite imagery and geospatial data. ALOS/PALSAR images acquired in May, June, August, and September 2010 were used to classify land and water, and then a submerged-area map was produced. From the results, we were able to accurately detect non-submerged areas and submerged areas with water depths of at least 3 cm. The number of times classified into submerged area was defined as submergence frequency, and it was approximated by distance from reservoirs representing White Volta River, ponds, and swamps. In addition, flood extent derived from reservoirs was simulated using digital elevation model (DEM). Finally, a flood probability assessment map was produced by integration of the estimated submergence frequency and flood extent simulation. The results of a comparison of soil moisture data measured at 69 points in the field and the NDVIs computed by ALOS/AVNIR showed that areas with high potential for flooding retained high levels of soil moisture and were more likely to show less deterioration of vegetation in the dry season. The validation of these results confirmed the adequacy of the flood probability assessment method. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-17 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9363-7 Authors Yukiyo Yamamoto, Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), Ohwashi 1-1, Tsukuba, 305-8686 Japan Yasuhiro Tsujimoto, Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), Ohwashi 1-1, Tsukuba, 305-8686 Japan Yoichi Fujihara, Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), Ohwashi 1-1, Tsukuba, 305-8686 Japan Jyun-ichi Sakagami, Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), Ohwashi 1-1, Tsukuba, 305-8686 Japan Shiro Ochi, Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), Ohwashi 1-1, Tsukuba, 305-8686 Japan Mathias Fosu, Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), P.O. Box 52, Tamale, Ghana Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description:    The present paper proposes a spatial multicriteria approach for supporting decision makers in the siting process of a waste incinerator plant in the Province of Torino (Italy). Municipal solid waste management is an intrinsically complex problem because it involves different interconnected elements and must achieve objectives that are often in conflict. Given the spatial nature of the problem, a useful support is provided by a family of methods that are rapidly gaining traction for planning and policy-making, named multicriteria spatial decision support systems, which are based on geographical information systems and multicriteria analysis coupling. In the present study, a methodological framework is proposed for the integration of geographical information systems with a specific multicriteria analysis technique, named Analytic Network Process. The method is illustrated with reference to a case study in the Province of Torino. The purpose of the research is to generate a suitability map of the area under analysis in order to locate a municipal solid waste incinerator plant. The application allows the dependence relationships between the criteria to be assessed and the relative importance of all the elements to be evaluated. The results are obtained in the form of maps analyzed through the ILWIS 3.3 GIS software and have been further verified through a “what-if” analysis with reference to the clusters priorities in order to test the robustness of the model. The implementation of the spatial Analytic Network Process technique gives an originality value to the present research since it represents one of the first applications at both the national and international levels. Content Type Journal Article Category Case Study Pages 1-25 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9354-8 Authors Valentina Ferretti, Politecnico di Torino, Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST), Castello del Valentino, viale Mattioli, 39-10125 Turin, Italy Silvia Pomarico, Politecnico di Torino, Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST), Castello del Valentino, viale Mattioli, 39-10125 Turin, Italy Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description:    Dhaka division is the main central industrial zone in Bangladesh. Along with the great growth in industry in the region, there have also been increased and sometimes critical levels of toxic pollution to the environment. Although much has been researched in the region on the degradation of the environment, the slow improvements in environment protection drive the question of what is the environmental security climate in Dhaka division. The study of four plants (textile, leather tanning, cement and fertilizer) in Dhaka division aimed to find out the impact of each on the environment. The study took place within Tejgaon, Hazaribagh, Narsingdi and Narayangang and investigated the impact of those plants on air, water and land. Among the different polluters, the results indicated that textiles polluted most. All participants indicated that the industries were the cause of at least one ailment within 6 months. It is recommended to governments and plant owners that they not only remain diligent about policy on environment protection, but that they also humanize efforts so as to follow those policies through to the end. The loss of life and quality of life may have larger impacts that daily profitability and livelihood. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9357-5 Authors Faruque As Sunny, School of Management, China Academy for Rural Development, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027 China Taonarufaro Karimanzira, Department of Non-Traditional Securities and Peace Development, School of Public Administration, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027 China Zuhui Huang, China Academy for Rural Development, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310029 China Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description:    Export of shrimps and prawns using intensive cultivation in the Sundarban area of Indian Bengal had a negative impact on mangrove forests in 1980s. Land conversions from agricultural use and mangrove forest to shrimp ponds are significant. The impact of changing economic factors such as trade on mangrove forests is evident but as yet this link is not clearly understood by decision-makers. In this context, this study analyses the impact of economic driver on land use changes by combining socio-economic data (economic variables) and satellite data (land use change). Using the panel data method for 1986–2004 in eight administrative units of the Sundarbans area, the study identifies relative return and productivity of labour for various types of land use together with population density as the major drivers of land use change. Identification of these drivers would help to design an effective response policy for management of this UNESCO Heritage site. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-15 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9361-9 Authors Pushpam Kumar, Ecosystem Services Economics Unit of Division of Environmental Policy Implementation (DEPI), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), P.O. Box 30522, Nairobi, 00100 Kenya Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description:    As environmental issues changed its focus from pollution and endangered species to fulfilling basic human needs, such as health, education, shelter, sanitation, hygiene, on the one hand and social justice on the other hand, it widened in its scope. People questioned about adequacy of ecological knowledge in solving daily questions in their life, and also contribution of their values, objective life situations and idea of quality of life for ecological well-being. Two core and complimentary values strongly emerged from the concept of sustainable development; namely environmental protection and justice. Unfortunately, there is lack of awareness on dimensions of human life and its linkages with the wider environment. To combine the values, dimensions of human life and its linkages with external environment, fundamental changes in human behaviour for human development is required. Present article reflects on dimensions of life, essential skills and practical tools for environmental protection and human development. Content Type Journal Article Category Review Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9362-8 Authors S. M. Marale, Society of Integrated Coastal Management (SICOM), No. 9 Institutional Area, First floor, Lodhi Road, New Delhi, 110003 India Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description:    Human population growth challenges efforts toward sustainability. People who are concerned about the environment, development, and sustainability are in a position to stress the importance of human population and to encourage people to choose small family size (Grossman, in Conserv Biol, 24(6), pp 1435–1436, 2010 ). Nevertheless, this vital subject has been treated infrequently in this journal. Of more than 500 articles published since its inception, only 15 have touched on human population, few have had population as a primary subject and only three have suggested that readers of this journal can and should have influence over population growth. This article concludes by suggesting ways that we who are concerned about sustainability should promote education about family planning and the advantages of small family size. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-5 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9364-6 Authors Richard Grossman, Biology Department, Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive, Durango, CO 81301, USA Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description: In February 2012, during a period of extremely cold weather across Russia and large parts of Europe, Gazprom failed to supply all the gas that was requested from it by its non-CIS customers in countries ranging from Poland in the north to Italy and Greece in the south of Europe. This situation led to concerns over a gas shortage and caused gas prices to spike at all the major hubs on the continent and in the UK. This Comment argues that the supposed supply “crisis” was not caused by any production shortfall in Russia but by a combination of inadequate storage available to Gazprom, excess gas withdrawal by Ukraine and in particular by political considerations in Russia ahead of the Presidential election in early March. However, it does highlight the current constraints to the Russian gas supply machine under certain severe temperature conditions. The paper also argues that, in contradiction to the claims of Alexander Medvedev (the Head of GazpromExport) that “spot markets failed to compensate for the increased demand”, in fact the markets had a logical price reaction to daily supply/demand changes. Although this reaction resulted in sharply higher prices in the short term, this provided a potent commercial signal which in turn led to spot supplies and/or demand management and then, as the situation resolved itself, produced lower prices so that the monthly average was still below the oil-indexed average price. While it is certainly true that the mature hubs at NBP and TTF reacted in a more responsive manner than some of the Continent’s less liquid hubs, it was nevertheless the case that, overall, customers were supplied at a market price and traders were able to arbitrage a short-term supply and demand imbalance.

Description: The financialization of oil futures markets has been held responsible for a variety of phenomena including changes in price volatility, increased co-movement between oil futures prices and other financial asset and commodity prices, a breakdown of the statistical relationship between oil inventories and the price of oil, and an increased influence of the decisions of financial investors such as swap dealers, hedge funds and commodity index traders on the oil futures price. Most importantly, there is a perception that oil futures markets no longer adequately perform their functions of price discovery and risk transfer. In this presentation, Dr Fattouh reviews the evidence in the academic literature and evaluates to what extent it provides support for the proposed effects of financialization.

Description: This paper, by Fan Gao, assesses the extent to which China is likely to achieve levels of shale gas production by 2020 which would make a meaningful difference to its growing need for imports of pipeline gas and LNG. The study suggests that given the rather disappointing progress on Coal Bed Methane production since exploration and development work started some 25 years ago, a cautionary approach is needed in anticipating the outlook for shale gas for the remainder of this decade.  The specific challenges include water availability and population density demographics as well as the need to stimulate an innovative competitive dynamic in the Chinese upstream service sector and an appropriate upstream investment framework with foreign participants for the transfer and application of technology. The paper provides a rare appreciation of the dynamics of the onshore Chinese upstream industry and from that basis a better understanding of what will be required, on a number of policy levels, for Chinese shale gas development to succeed.

Description:    The aim of this study was to examine the level of awareness of Niger Delta communities about impacts of climate change and to identify and document indigenous innovations and practices for adaptation to climate change by farmers in the region. Three states were randomly selected from the nine states that make up the Niger Delta. Multistage sampling technique was used to interview 400 heads of farming households in Cross Rivers, Delta and Rivers States. Analysis of the data utilized simple descriptive statistics, while the results were presented as tables, figures and charts. Two single sex Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted in each of the survey states giving a total of six FGDs. Data from the FGDs complemented the survey results. Findings of this study showed that about 90 % of respondents were aware of climate change and its impacts. The results further indicate that the farmers have practiced some innovative indigenous measures for climate change adaptation for many years. It was also noted that the identified indigenous adaptive strategies which have Science, Technology and Innovation policy relevance could inform the design and implementation of future Agricultural, Development and Climate Change Policy in the region. Lastly, policy recommendations are made to improve climate change awareness and adaptation to climate change impacts in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9359-3 Authors Thaddeus C. Nzeadibe, Department of Geography, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria Chukwudumebi L. Egbule, Department of Agricultural Extension, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria Nnaemeka A. Chukwuone, Department of Agricultural Economics, Centre for Entrepreneurship and Development Research, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria Agwu E. Agwu, Department of Agricultural Extension, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria Victoria C. Agu, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, Nafisah Plaza, Plot 502, Off Constitution Avenue, Central Business Area, Abuja, Nigeria Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description:    During the past six decades, agriculture as a main sector in Iran’s economy has been affected by economic development, land-use policies, and population growth and its pressures. From the 1940s until 2010, the percentage of the total urban population of Iran increased from about 21 % to around 72 %. Urbanization, industrialization, and intensive cultivation have dramatically affected soil and water resources. The exploitation of groundwater has been increased around fourfold from the 1970s to the mid-2000s. Total water resources per capita reduced around 23 % from 1956 to 2008. The average annual decrease in the groundwater table in Iran during the last two decades is 0.51 m. In 2008, the groundwater table fell around −1.14 m in average in Iran. The average use of chemical fertilizers increased from around 2.1 million tons in 1990s to about 3.7 million tons in 2009. During that period, fertilizer use efficiency decreased from around 28 % to around 21 %. Approximately 77 % of the agricultural land under irrigation suffers from different levels of salinity. According to the quantification of four indices, such as soil erosion, fall in groundwater levels, salinity, and use of chemical fertilizer, that are directly related to agricultural land use, the results show that agricultural management in Iran needs special attention to reach sustainable conditions. The total cost of soil and water degradation and use of fertilizers in agriculture are estimated around than US $12.8 billion (about 157,000 billion IRRials)—approximately 4 % of the total gross domestic product (GDP) and approximately 35 % of the GDP of the agricultural sector in Iran. Content Type Journal Article Category Review Pages 1-15 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9351-y Authors Iraj Emadodin, Institute for Ecosystem Research, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel, Germany Daiju Narita, Institute for the World Economy, Kiel, Germany Hans Rudolf Bork, Institute for Ecosystem Research, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel, Germany Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description:    A key activity in Phase 1 of REDD+—the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) forestry mitigation mechanism—is the development of policies and measures (PAMs) to define where and how emissions reductions and carbon stock enhancements and conservation will be achieved. This paper provides contextual data and information for the development of PAMs specifically for the buffer zones of protected areas in the Peruvian Amazon, sites where REDD+ has the potential to generate considerable social and ecological co-benefits. The study sites are the buffer zones of two national parks, Yanachaga-Chemillen (YChNP) in central Peru and Manu (MNP) in the south-east. Data were collected through smallholder household surveys ( n  = 200), covering livelihood strategies, land use practices and preference rankings of five REDD+ criteria. The findings suggest that PAMs in buffer zones could realistically achieve an additional ~10 % conservation of remaining forest and between 25 and 70 % additional reforestation of non-forest areas on private lands. The paper argues that in areas where agricultural co-operatives exist, such as MNP, these should be engaged in national REDD+ PAMs and supported by an international NGO; in areas where smallholders operate individually, such as YChNP, international NGOs may be best placed to gain local trust and thereby raise participation rates. The environmental effectiveness of REDD+ conservation PAMs could be greater in areas of intense agricultural production, yet financial and technical support for reforestation may offer the most effective avenue for carbon mitigation in these areas. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-21 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9350-z Authors Joel Scriven, Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QY UK Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description:    The main purpose of this paper is to use data envelopment analysis (DEA) as a support tool to establish a relative eco-efficiency measure for the different bioethanol transportation modes and to prioritize these different modes according to these figures. From a review of previous studies, we selected a set of attributes to be considered in DEA, and then experts were consulted about the importance of these attributes for this type of analysis in Brazil. To quantify the attributes, we established indicators and submitted them to DEA to evaluate the relative eco-efficiency to each available transportation mode for the case studied. The use of DEA established the guidelines to improve the transportation modes that were not considered 100 % relatively eco-efficient. These improvements could be achieved considering the percentage, reduction or growth for each of the attributes in the selected transportation mode. The proposed approach can help the Brazilian government to develop a plan to improve the bioethanol transportation infrastructure and can be used to propel short-term improvements in the highway transport of bioethanol, which could be useful given the Brazilian transportation context. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-15 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9352-x Authors Ilton Curty Leal, Centro de Tecnologia Bloco H, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Sala 106, Cidade Universitária, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil Pauli Adriano de Almada Garcia, Rua Desembargador Ellis Hermydio Figueira, Fluminense Federal University, 783, B. A, sl. 304, Volta Redonda, RJ, Brazil Márcio de Almeida D’Agosto, Centro de Tecnologia Bloco H, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Sala 106, Cidade Universitária, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description: This presentation by Malcolm Keay was delivered at a British Institute of Energy Economics seminar on 25 April 2012.  It looks at the links between energy efficiency and sustainability and concludes that they are much more complex than they might appear at first sight.

Description: As one of the world largest holders of oil as well as natural gas, Iran is a significant producer of both. Yet, international sanctions which have intensified in recent years have significantly dented the country’s oil and gas industries’ short- and medium-term prospects. National oil company NIOC’s own set target of producing 4.5 mbd by 2010 was not met and meeting the desired 5 mbd benchmark by 2015 looks by now very unlikely; indeed, Iran’s long term industry-intern challenges have most recently been added to by the intensifying conflict with Western nations in expectation of a new round of sanctions aimed at Iran’s oil sector. This paper aims to examine the status of Iran’s oil sector; to draw lessons from previous year’s of sanctions and its effect on Iran’s oil sector; and to conclude from our observations Iran’s potential role as a producer and exporter of oil.

Description: The aim of this study is to explain based on the case of the GCC economies the particular ways in which many oil- and energy-rich economies price energy domestically; to identify different cost concepts and observed and potential future caveats of these pricing systems, such as rapidly rising energy demand, lack of energy efficiency and a rapid depletion of exhaustible natural resources; and to draw policy lessons for energy-rich countries’ pricing strategies.

Description:    This study examined the relationship between the conduct of marketing and trading activities at market centres along the Volta Lake and conditions of the lakeshore environment using descriptive and quantitative data. The analysis and discussions of the study were based on data gathered through intensive field survey involving interviews, group discussions and on-site observation at six selected markets centres. Water samples from the lake adjacent the six market yards and points upstream and downstream were analysed for some selected physical, chemical and bacteriological parameters as basic pollution indicators. Faecal coliform (FC) and total coliform (TC) concentrations of the lake were high ranging from 8.2 to 27.4 cfu/100 ml and 70.4 to 120.4 cfu/100 ml, respectively. These values were above WHO acceptable levels (FC 0 cfu/100 ml; TC 0–10 cfu/100 ml). Dissolved oxygen concentrations were also low (2.9–5.6 mg/l), below the background level of 7 mg/l, in view of high organic matter content of the water. The market yards contribute to pollution of the Volta Lake in addition to other pollution sources in the market town/village. The study emphasised that the limited market space, inadequate market infrastructure and facilities, low management capacity and poor attitudes of market participants towards waste disposal contribute to poor sanitary conditions at the market centres. The study concludes that the interconnections among market infrastructure, market organisation and management, and conditions of the environment should guide market development planning in order to mitigate the adverse consequences of the operation of market centres on the environment. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-24 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9353-9 Authors Benjamin D. Ofori, Institute for Environment and Sanitation Studies, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description: This paper suggests a new approach to analysing the distribution of natural resource revenues and applies it to the case of Mexico. It defines a natural resource entitlement as a citizen’s per capita share of their country’s natural resource rents. The main finding is that, according to official estimates, Mexican fiscal policy transfers oil entitlements from the bottom 90 percent of the population to the top 10 percent of the population. This implies that, although fiscal policy is progressive relative to market income, it is regressive once oil entitlements are taken into account. I consider a fiscal reform that would ensure that every citizen received their oil entitlement, and in doing so would eliminate extreme poverty.

Description: Sharing costs and risks are the basic foundation of any the joint venture. However, the required financial commitments might be jeopardized either by a co-venturer who cannot afford the payment of the related costs or a co-venturer who simply chooses not to pay its share. The petroleum industry tends to rely on the forfeiture of interests as a threat to deter such behaviour but as a remedy this is often uncertain in times of its enforceability and could operate to the benefit of the defaulting party. The options to consider are collateral support provision, secured interests and cross-default options structured over wider asset interests. The recommendations which should arise out of this research intend to provide safer guidance for a long term relationship in a joint venture in the petroleum industry.

Description: The increasing maturity of Russia’s onshore fields, especially those in West Siberia, and the potential for the country’s production to go into sharp decline over the next decade has prompted the Russian government to promote offshore development as a potential solution. President Putin has encouraged his state oil company to seek international partnership to bring in the requisite technical and management expertise as well as much needed capital to fund what will be very expensive projects. The immediate consequence of this activity has been the formation of three joint venture partnerships between Rosneft and Exxon, ENI and Statoil respectively, with the IOCs finally seizing the chance to exploit their competitive advantages in a region with huge resource potential. However, despite the undoubted benefits which these new partnerships can bring for all parties in terms of technical knowledge exchange, reciprocal asset deals, diversification of risk and potential upside from exploration success, it would appear doubtful whether the results of their activity can be anything other than a long-term solution to Russia’s production issues. Therefore, the Russian government may need to increase the incentives for both domestic and international companies to exploit the country’s more accessible onshore resources if the country’s current levels of oil production are to be maintained in the short to medium term.

Description:    This study attempts to investigate the presence of a regional Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) in selected South Asian countries, namely, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka for the period 1984–2008. In addition, it also intends to inspect the impact of corruption on environmental degradation in this region. The Fixed Effect results confirm the existence of the regional EKC in these countries. Furthermore, the results indicate that corruption do affect environment in the manner that it delays the turning point in EKC. It is found that, in the presence of corruption, the per capita GDP at the turning point is USD 998, which is USD 128 higher from the value that would have been in the absence of corruption. Based on these results, the study suggests appropriate policy measures. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-15 DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9356-6 Authors Faiz Ur Rehman, Department of Economics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan Muhammad Nasir, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad, Pakistan Faiza Kanwal, Department of Economics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan Journal Environment, Development and Sustainability Online ISSN 1573-2975 Print ISSN 1387-585X

Description: Energy subsidies form an important part of many governments’ policies in the developing world, the Arab world being no exception. The primary goal behind energy subsidies is often to address underlying poverty issues and to enable all citizens to access at least basic forms of energy. However, the use of energy subsidies has been criticised by numerous national and international observers as ineffective in achieving its goal, and for creating large scale energy waste. Organisations such as the OECD and the IEA are now calling directly on their member states to eliminate energy subsidies. Iran, the Arab world’s most immediate neighbour and a major energy producer has recently set an example of how a large-scale reform of energy subsidies can be realised; in tandem with the removal of direct and indirect energy subsidies, particularly vulnerable parts of society are protected through the disbursement of compensatory, universal cash transfers. This research looks at the situation of energy subsidies prevalent in the Arab world their impact on the region’s economies, with a focus on non-GCC countries. It also proposes options for the reform of energy subsidies in the context of the Arab world.

Description: This paper, by James Henderson , concludes that Russian domestic gas prices are not likely to reach European netback levels any time soon, but that the momentum of the past five years towards significantly higher domestic prices will continue, leading to an eventual liberalization of the Russian gas market. Over the next decade, this could create fundamental changes in Russia’s relationship with European gas markets with potential competition for available supplies between domestic and European export markets.

Description: The European Commission has broken new ground in proposing to streamline national planning approval of vital energy infrastructure, use EU funds to leverage private finance for such networks and to negotiate foreign pipelines on the EU’s behalf. These initiatives coincide awkwardly with the eurozone crisis. But David Buchan broadly endorses Brussels’ attempt to kick-start implementation of Europe’s 2020 energy and climate goals. He suggests the Commission go a step further by taking advantage of the forthcoming treaty revision to propose a constitutional amendment on EU states’ energy mix.

Description: While much of the emphasis of the literature on energy poverty is on the prevalence of the phenomenon in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, little has been written about energy poverty in the Arab world. Traditionally having being seen as one of the world’s most energy rich regions, the Arab world has in recent years often been overlooked as a region which suffers severely from energy poverty itself. In 2002, about 65 million people in the Arab world had no access to electricity, and an additional 60 million were severely undersupplied in both urban and rural areas. In terms of cooking and heating, almost one-fifth of the Arab population rely on non-commercial fuels like wood, dung, and agricultural residues particularly in Comoros, Djibouti, Sudan, Yemen, and Somalia but also in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, and Syria. This study fills a gap in the existing literature by looking at the case of prevailing energy poverty in Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab world.

Description: In 2004 a large discovery of oil was made in Rajasthan, a relatively poor state in north-west India. Oil began to flow in 2009. The estimated total hydrocarbons resource base in Rajasthan is 6.5 billion barrels, and the fields are estimated to have the potential to reach output levels of over 200,000 barrels of oil per day. The quantities of oil that are expected to be produced, and their resulting revenues, are significant, but unlikely to be transformative to the state’s finances. However, given low levels of economic and human development, effectively-spent resource revenues could have a significant impact on the welfare of Rajasthan’s citizens.  This paper discusses options for the use and management of oil revenues in Rajasthan, picking up the challenge from the point at which revenues start to flow to the government. The receipt and expenditure of oil revenues are matters for fiscal policy, and we consider them in the context of India’s federal system, where fiscal responsibility is divided between the federal government and state governments. Drawing on international experience, we discuss how resource revenues are spent in practice, and how they might better be used to benefit the citizens who ultimately own them.

Description: In parallel with a flourishing economy, the natural gas industry in Spain was characterised by rapid consumption growth in the late 1990s and 2000s. Infrastructure and supplies were designed to meet the needs of a gas market growing at double digit rates each year. This high growth rate – for a European gas market – was expected to continue until at least the mid-2010s. By 2011, this outlook was replaced by a more pessimistic one. Firstly, the country’s economy was hit hard by the global recession and GDP growth recovered later than average for Europe. Secondly, the utilisation of Spain’s CCGTs dropped from 52% in 2008 to only 33% in 2010 as a result of an increasing use of renewable energy – especially wind and hydropower – to produce electricity. This raises the question of whether the expectation of gas demand in the Spanish power sector is ever going to materialise. The objective of this paper is to investigate the state of the Spanish gas market and its potential for growth. Will the negative impacts on the gas market be short lived or is there a need to review the scenarios to incorporate new dynamics relative to economic growth and renewable energy use? What will the consequence be of these changes on the gas industry?