Environmental Science & Policy最新文献

The need to deal with the deep uncertainty and system complexity associated to Net-Zero pathways, especially those relying on emergent greenhouse gas removal (GGR) technologies, has resulted in a growing body of literature on alternative decision-support approaches. Exploratory modelling, and specifically Robust Decision Making (RDM), are potential approaches capable of addressing these challenges: by exploring a wide range of conceivable futures, they explicitly embrace deep uncertainties while seeking to reduce system vulnerabilities. However, though RDM methods have been well documented, there is little insight as to how such approach might be integrated into Net-Zero policy design processes. By means of a workshop (n=17) and interviews (n=13) with the UK climate policy and energy modelling communities, this contribution provides insights into the role and potential of RDM in explicitly dealing with the deep uncertainties that pervade in the establishment of a 60–100 MtCO₂ UK GGR sector within three decades. The consultation process revealed that there is an appetite from the decision-making and analytical communities in integrating exploratory modelling concepts into UK policy design processes. It is recommended that to bridge the gap between theoretical RDM constructs and their broader adoption, the analytical process should include a broader set of disciplines and expertise. Specifically for the modelling community, this work suggests that in-use computational models should be adapted, rather than new tools developed. Key challenges also arise from the time and resources required, suggesting small scale place-based pilots could promote the acceptability and foster the adoption of the RDM methodology.

Ecosystems globally are becoming increasingly degraded necessitating conservation and repair. Alongside restoration of natural habitats, eco-engineering can mitigate the negative impacts of urban seascapes by co-designing marine-built structures for nature as well as humans. The application of eco-engineering to marine built structures is supported by over two decades of research demonstrating the efficacy of this approach in enhancing biodiversity but there remain few examples of interventions moving beyond experimental- to large-scale (10–100 s m) and long-term (decadal) implementation. Using lessons learned from eco-engineering research in Sydney Harbour, Australia, we outline six key steps that facilitate moving from experimental to larger scale retrofitted eco-engineering interventions. These are: (1) identifying the ecological problem and the most tractable solutions; (2) engaging with stakeholders, (3) obtaining approvals, (4) establishing demonstration sites that illustrate to stakeholders the practicality and benefits of the solution, (5) building an evidence base for efficacy of the solution, and (6) scaling up supply. Our framework draws on learnings from the Living Seawalls project, and on the extensive small-scale experimentation that led to it. Living Seawalls is an eco-engineering initiative that grew out of Sydney Harbour and has now been applied to sites across Australia and globally. Our framework also draws on learnings from other existing projects (e.g. Ecostructure, Blue Cube) and frameworks (e.g. Greening the Grey, International Guidelines on Natural and Nature-Based Features for Flood Risk Management) developed elsewhere. This work provides a template by which scientists can work with policy makers, managers, and other stakeholders to effect positive environmental change.

Local Ecological Knowledge held by commercial fishers is a valuable but underutilized resource for advancing scientific understanding in fisheries and marine management. To better incorporate this knowledge into management agencies and research departments, a thorough understanding of knowledge exchange between fishers and research scientists is essential. While previous studies have reported successful knowledge exchange, often based on consensus statements or gauged by tangible management outcomes, few have critically explored fishers’ engagement experiences, preferences, and the factors influencing these. To address this gap, we employed an inductive research methodology and conducted semi-structured interviews with twenty-one commercial fishers from two contrasting Western Australian commercial fisheries targeting different species with different gear types. Six key engagement themes were identified, revealing diverse attitudes held by fishers toward knowledge exchange with fisheries research scientists. We found that a minority of fishers from each fishery were highly engaged, acting as knowledge brokers, whereas the remaining fishers were disinterested or had minimal opportunities to engage researchers. We also found higher levels of engagement and a wider variety of interactions in the more valuable (and well-resourced) fishery. Key barriers to knowledge exchange included the use of technical scientific language and approaches alienating some fishers, limited research budgets, and fishers' reservations about sharing their expertize. We discuss strategies to overcome these barriers, including tailored engagement models, training research scientists in communicating with individuals from non-academic backgrounds, increasing funding to support industry partnerships in low-value fisheries, and broadening the focus of fisher engagement beyond the realms of fisheries science.

This perspective article examines the complex issues surrounding water and sanitation for climate migrants during the current climate crisis. To deepen the understanding of climate-induced migration, the study seeks to identify and analyze a critical knowledge gap related to climate migrants. This involves defining who climate migrants are, understanding their migration patterns, and identifying the specific challenges they face, particularly concerning their fundamental human rights to water and sanitation. Environmental and anthropogenic disasters, expropriation, and gradual environmental deterioration all contribute to the intricate interplay that leads to such a state of affairs. It highlights the critical importance of a precise definition of climate migrants and calls for robust theoretical and epistemological contributions to deepen our understanding of this issue. Furthermore, extreme weather events can cause frequent and permanent displacement, which increases pressure on water and sanitation systems. Encouraging reflection, the article discusses how knowledge gained can guide government and civil society actions to mitigate adversities climate migrants face and ensure human dignity through universal access to water and sanitation. These challenges are set to intensify in the coming decades, making this a pressing matter for all.

Adaptive approaches to flood governance are gaining attention as climate change is expected to alter historic flooding patterns around the world. Collaboration networks are essential to adaptive governance as they create a cohesive system of diverse actors functioning across different jurisdictions and spatial levels. This research investigates the network structure of the regional collaborative governance for flood planning in the Wolastoq | Saint John River Basin, Canada. A social network approach was employed to assess the extent and characteristics of adaptive flood governance in the region, specifically investigating network properties related to collective action dilemmas, organizational type, and geographic scale. The network displayed a diverse composition of organization types, a propensity for bonding structures, homophily among governmental organizations, and prominent brokerage activity of multi-basin actors. The presence of bonding structures in the network reflected the high-risk dilemma presented by flood planning, characterised by the presence of both government and non-governmental actors with diverse authority, resources, and organizational capacity. Transitioning to adaptive governance would benefit from increased connectivity among regions and enhanced brokerage activity amongst governmental organizations.

Public participation in the U.S. environmental impact assessment process is legally required under the National Environmental Policy Act, yet the procedural norms of the process often leave members of the public feeling powerless. While public participation has the appearance of a democratic process, it is imbued with unequal power dynamics and federal agencies maintain decision-making authority. Despite sovereignty and treaty rights, Indigenous communities in the U.S. do not participate in environmental decision-making through a collaborative governance structure. Instead, Indigenous communities interested in project impacts primarily voice their concerns through the public comment process. This paper explores Indigenous participants’ impacts on environmental impact decision-making through an illustrative case study structure. The phenomenon is explored in an in-depth analysis of the recent leasing environmental impact statement (EIS) for oil exploration and development in the 1002 Coastal Plain area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. This work uses a qualitative content analysis of the Coastal Plain case study to assess how public comments, particularly comments from Indigenous peoples, impact change in the documents that follow public participation processes. From this analysis, this article aims to illustrate a few key issues with how Indigenous input is considered in public participation processes. Findings indicate that public comments may result in minor changes to assessment documents but, overall, public input has little influence on project outcomes.

In this paper, we employed Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to assess how efficiently a sample of 22 European cities meets the SDG 11.2.1 indicator, which measures the proportion of the population with convenient access to public transport. We examined a range of cities across different sizes and regions. After using bootstrapping methods, we found that the public transport systems in southern European cities arrange their stop networks more efficiently to provide convenient access for inhabitants than those in northern cities. To reach the DEA performance benchmark, the low-efficient systems would need to reorganize their stop network and increase the population's access to public transport by an average of 58%. However, since almost all users of these systems can already walk acceptable distances to stops, these inherent inefficiencies are mainly observed due to unfavorable built environment conditions, which require a relatively extensive network of road and rail public transport stops. We estimated conditional order-m measures to unravel such exogenous influence on public transport performance. After analyzing various built environment factors, we found that cities with increased population density and a higher proportion of urbanized and built-up areas facilitate more convenient access to public transport. Cities that prioritize car-centric designs tend to have less favorable accessibility conditions. Our findings are useful for policymakers in achieving UN SDG 11 in modern cities. Expanding public transport stop networks and rail modes is important in low-density and less urbanized districts. Urban planning that promotes a more pedestrian-focused design can also improve public transport accessibility.

The recent economic development of maritime areas has led to the emergence of new approaches to marine governance in many regions. Unfortunately, the complexity of the natural and socio-economic processes that characterise the marine and coastal ecosystems is generally not sufficiently considered by the existing governance mechanisms. This explains that the inclusion of land-sea interactions (LSIs) in marine and coastal governance remains particularly weak and somewhat inadequate to address the current challenges, especially in Europe. The literature review showed that the mechanisms currently in place for this purpose are highly fragmented, even though legislation has been introduced at the EU level. Focusing on the implementation of the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive (MSPD), four types of obstacles to the integration of LSIs into marine and coastal governance have been identified. They are classified as issue-related, institutional, process-related and knowledge-related. To overcome these challenges, three recommendations have been developed in this paper: 1) the effective implementation of EU marine and coastal legislation's fundamental principles related to an integrated approach; 2) the development of new governance mechanisms to enhance policy coordination and 3) the development of collaborative governance processes. The policy recommendations for LSI integration in marine and coastal governance formulated have not been tested through specific case studies. Therefore, the next step would be to create innovative governance mechanisms for a selection of cases.

This study proposes a novel multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) framework aimed at selecting refrigeration technologies that are both carbon- and energy-efficient, aligning with the UK's net-zero policies and the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Addressing the challenge of a limited number of competing technologies and the need to incorporate diverse stakeholders’ perspectives, we design a hybrid DEA-TOPSIS approach utilizing the Feasible Super-Efficiency Slacks-Based Algorithm (FSESBA). FSESBA proves invaluable, especially in scenarios involving super-efficiency or efficiency trend measurement, where addressing undesirable factors may lead to the well-known infeasibility problem. While we establish the theoretical soundness of the DEA-TOPSIS model, we validate the efficacy of our proposed approach through comparative analysis with conventional methods. Subsequently, we evaluate the choices of present and upcoming refrigeration technologies at a leading UK supermarket. Our findings reveal a shift from prevalent HFO-based technologies in 2020 to CO2-based technologies by 2035, attributed to their lower energy usage and GHG emissions. In addition, maintaining current refrigeration systems could contribute to achieving international and national targets to decrease F-Gas refrigerant usage, although net-zero targets will remain out of reach. In summary, our research findings underscore the potential of the introduced model to reinforce the adoption of novel refrigeration system technology, offering valuable support for the UK SDGs taskforces and net-zero policy formulation.

Transformative adaptation (TA) places emphasis on changing the underlying causes of climate risk. Little is known about how TA can be achieved in practice in southern African cities. This paper reports on a set of criteria, derived from the literature and transdisciplinary engagements, for taking TA from theory into practice. These are: fundamental/sustainable changes in thinking and doing; inclusivity; challenging power asymmetries; demonstrability; responsive and flexible; and holistic, complex systems thinking. These criteria were explored through five water-related projects in Durban (South Africa) and Harare (Zimbabwe), which were identified by actors as having transformative potential to reduce urban climate risks. The study suggests that trade-offs might need to be made between several of these criteria, with strong synergies between others. Challenging power asymmetries is important in southern African cities where adaptation should change the structures of society that give rise to highly differential climate vulnerabilities. Challenging power structures largely requires true inclusivity and an equal stake in shaping decisions as opposed to tokenistic participation. While TA is needed in southern African cities, the complexity of these contexts and the scale of TA ambition introduces practical challenges when compared with incremental adaptation, i.e. small changes to existing practices to reduce climate impacts within the current development paradigm. Given such practical limitations, the paper concludes that TA in southern African cities might pragmatically be attempted as part of a process of ongoing learning to identify opportunities for gradual restructuring and expanding, in scale and ambition towards transformation.