Environmental Development最新文献

{"title":"8Rs for circular water and sanitation systems: Leveraging circular economy thinking for safe, resilient and inclusive services","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.envdev.2024.101093","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envdev.2024.101093","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To achieve their normative health, environmental and social objectives, water and sanitation services must be safely managed, inclusive and climate resilient. Meeting these imperatives presents a need and opportunity for innovative thinking about water and sanitation service systems. Circular economy concepts are being applied across a multitude of product and service sectors with the aim to facilitate regenerative flows of resources. Given the dependence on water resources, associated climate risks, and the generation of reusable waste products in water and sanitation service delivery, circular economy concepts can be usefully leveraged to drive sustainability outcomes. This article contributes a heuristic in the form of a conceptual framework for applying circular economy concepts in the design and delivery of water and sanitation services in diverse Global South contexts. The framework seeks to drive multiple outcomes relevant to water and sanitation initiatives: safely managed services, social inclusion, and climate resilience. Co-developed by an international research team applying a theoretical multiplicity approach and collaborative sensemaking, the heuristic takes the form of a suite of eight adapted circular economy ‘R strategies’ for water and sanitation. The R strategies were selected and articulated to reflect theory-based principles of circular economy, climate resilience and inclusion. They are intended to prompt thinking and action in pursuit of safely managed, climate resilient, inclusive water and sanitation services that align with the broader sustainability directions that circular economy narratives aspire to. The heuristic offers a conceptually rigorous, practical tool that can support collaborative, deliberative processes to realise the potential benefits of circularity in water and sanitation service systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54269,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142531106","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Analysis of the dependence of the observed urban air pollution extremes in the vicinity of coal fuelled power plants on combined effects of anthropogenic and meteorological drivers","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.envdev.2024.101095","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envdev.2024.101095","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this paper we assessed effects of changes of meteorological drivers, taken from datasets of observational records and modelling outputs, and human-made pollution, derived from records of energy production, on the mainly wintertime extreme observed values of urban particulate matter (PM) concentrations in the relative vicinity of coal fuelled thermoelectric power plants (TPPs) in Montenegro and Serbia. We used wavelet transform analysis, together with the dependency analysis and analysis of averages of climatic conditions, to study temporal dynamics of urban air pollution extremes in the vicinity of TPPs, the coincidence of their changes with observed levels of SO₂ and NO₂ concentrations in the air, and dependence of PM changes on several possible meteorological and anthropogenic drivers. We found that PM variations in urban areas are most probably caused by PM-SO₂/NO₂ coincidences that appear after a 2- to 3-h time lags needed for transformation of SO₂/NO₂ TPP emissions into PM particles, if pollution is caused by TPP emissions alone. When other causes of PM variations than the TPP production exist, we found that PM-SO₂/NO₂ correlations appear at time ranges from several hours to several days. In our analysis only the changes in the planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) coincided with the drive to extremes in PM values, at PBLH levels lower than 300<em>m</em>. Following these findings, we suggested that PM extremes in our sample could be viewed as preconditioned compound events, where TPP and urban heating emissions provide preconditions for PM extremes and PBLH serves as a major meteorological driver to such events.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54269,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142531174","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ecological networks reveal important taxa for ecosystem function in two subtropical South African estuaries","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.envdev.2024.101090","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envdev.2024.101090","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Biodiversity is essential for estuarine ecosystems' functioning, resilience, and persistence. While biodiversity assessments provide some insight into the ecosystem state, they cannot quantify every aspect of ecosystem-level function. We assessed aspects of estuarine ecosystem function and pinpointed taxa of interest that fulfil specific roles in estuarine ecosystems, using a series of novel food web model ensembles and Ecological Network Analysis. We investigated emergent network properties of two subtropical South African estuaries, the anthropogenically impacted large temporarily closed uMdloti Estuary and the ‘near natural’ predominantly open uMlalazi Estuary, during a drought period induced by the El Niño Southern Oscillation. In addition, important network components were identified to elucidate the importance of estuarine/marine taxa in maintaining ecosystem function. The key findings included (1) estuaries exhibit system-specific functional responses under drought conditions, and (2) estuarine/marine taxa are critical for overall ecosystem function. Both estuaries showed seasonal differences in ecosystem activity and reliance on trophic level I (microalgae and detritus) to fuel the food web, and persistently low cycling (&lt;9.3 %). However, compared to uMdloti Estuary, uMlalazi Estuary showed less variation in mean seasonal activity (1597–2095 mgC m⁻² d⁻¹), and higher reliance on detritus to fuel the food web (D:H &gt; 2.02), indicating greater ecosystem functional resilience to external perturbations. uMlalazi Estuary ecosystem function could be attributed to predominantly open mouth conditions maintaining a salinity gradient, and subsequent large contributions to overall ecosystem function from typically estuarine/marine invertebrate taxa. In contrast, the uMdloti Estuary, dominated by freshwater/brackish taxa under prolonged closed mouth conditions, showed greater seasonal variations in mean system activity (1084–2289 mgC m⁻² d⁻¹) and generally high reliance on microalgae (D:H &lt; 1.26), indicative of decreased resilience to external perturbations. During this study, a single mouth breach acted as a ’biological reset’ of uMdloti Estuary, enabling recruitment of estuarine/marine taxa, and a temporary recovery in ecosystem function reflected in increased system cycling (FCI &gt;14.05 %) and decreased reliance on microalgae (D:H &gt; 1. 41). These findings suggest that future predicted drought impacts on estuarine ecosystem function may be partially system-specific due to differing estuarine types, anthropogenic impact, and invertebrate community composition. This study provides a scientific link between ecosystem-level indicators and the role of individual taxa within the system, which is a valuable complement to biodiversity assessments and ecosystem state evaluation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54269,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142441843","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Strategic insights for sustainable tourism development in Kashmir Valley: SWOT and QSPM analysis","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.envdev.2024.101092","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envdev.2024.101092","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Promoting sustainable tourism entails fostering environmentally responsible growth that endures, achieving a delicate balance between honoring the rich history, preserving culture, and navigating the challenges posed by diverse altitudes in the Kashmir Valley. A knowledge test was created to measure the stakeholders' understanding of sustainable tourism to guide further analysis with the selected stakeholders. Our research delved into this objective by conducting real-world analysis, including questionnaires and interviews with key stakeholders. A Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) was utilized and built on the foundation of the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) framework to drive sustainable tourism effectively. The results underscore the intricate landscape the valley operates within, revealing varied levels of stakeholder satisfaction across different aspects. Understanding these nuanced perspectives is crucial to charting a sustainable course for the region. In this light, the existing strategies aimed at managing the area, with a focal point on promoting sustainable tourism. The emphasis is on recognizing and tackling the challenges while seizing the weaknesses and threats that could impact the industry's reputation for excellent service and environmental stewardship. It is about aligning strategies to ensure a harmonious coexistence between tourism growth and the natural, cultural, and social fabric of this adorable valley.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54269,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142445243","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The feasibility of flexible and adaptive green certification in accelerating zero carbon cities","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.envdev.2024.101091","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envdev.2024.101091","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This research measures the feasibility of using a flexible and adaptative green certification in accelerating the transition toward zero carbon cities. Thus, the EDGE program, a web-based application, is used to evaluate its influence on the number of LEED program certifications in the countries where this web-based application program is applied. A panel dataset of yearly LEED and EDGE-certified buildings numbers is created, and a synthetic control method is implemented for the top five countries for EDGE-certified projects. Counterfactuals are constructed to mimic the number of LEED-certified buildings in a treated country using controls based on countries where no EDGE program is recorded. It can be concluded that the establishment of an EDGE program causes a significant decrease in the number of LEED-certified buildings, especially in Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. The result remains robust when performing several robustness analyses. Analysis does not mean that the LEED will be replaced by the EDGE, but that a significant number of new certifications would change over the coming years. While many studies discussed the barriers for the adoption of green certifications, this research highlights the necessity of directing more research to keep up with updated smart tools and applications to increase the proliferation of the green certifications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54269,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142572952","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Does structural change matter for sustainable development in newly industrialized countries? Fresh evidence from a new sustainability indicator","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.envdev.2024.101094","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envdev.2024.101094","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The economic gap between developed and developing economies has been diminishing due to the recent rapid economic growth performance of developing economies. While achieving this swift growth level, developing economies have structurally transformed their economies. However, the impact of this structural change on environmental sustainability remains unclear. Therefore, this study focuses on the impacts of structural change, energy structure, and economic growth on the load capacity factor, a comprehensive sustainability indicator, in newly industrialized countries during 2000–2020. To this end, second-generation panel data techniques, which account for cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneity, are used to provide more robust and reliable estimates. The results show that economic growth, structural change, and fossil energy utilization decrease the load capacity factor while renewable energy utilization increases it. These findings underscore the need for energy efficiency and resource-conscious policies that align with environmental sustainability while promoting economic growth, highlighting their crucial role in the future of sustainable development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54269,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142531173","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integration of climate change adaptation into agricultural policies in Nepal: A diagnostic assessment","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.envdev.2024.101085","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envdev.2024.101085","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Successful implementation of climate change adaptation (CCA) actions in the agriculture sector requires comprehensive policies that have specifically focused aims and targets. Integration of CCA into agricultural policy can provide an enabling environment for planning and implementing CCA actions in a coordinated way. This work undertook an assessment of the integration of CCA into agricultural policies in Nepal. In total, 23 policies, plans, strategies, and frameworks published over more than two decades were assessed. Content analysis and knowledge mining were conducted based on five proxy criteria: focus, adaptation strategies, institutional setup, financial management, and monitoring and evaluation. The results indicate that the focus of the policies in terms of agricultural adaptation to climate change vary from protection of the environment to climate-smart agriculture. Agroforestry was found to be a highly prioritized CCA action in the documents. Most of the policy documents (16) make provisions for three tiers of institutional setup, while only 10 specifically allocate their required budgets with clear identification of their sources and monitoring and evaluation mechanisms at the national and subnational levels. The results also show that overlapping roles and responsibilities across ministries, the prioritization of adaptation action without quantified outcomes and a low priority being given to climate action—particularly at subnational levels—are major constraints on the implementation of these policies. In light of this, programs, activities, institutions and legal provisions are essential components in achieving the goals and objectives of any policy. So, each policy should have implementable programs and activities, institutional provisions with clearly defined responsibilities and legal provisions to overcome the obstacles.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54269,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142531107","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Aligning stakeholder goals: Implications for inclusive urban sustainability","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.envdev.2024.101082","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envdev.2024.101082","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The implementation of local sustainability policies is often hampered by differences between multi-level policy goals and the development priorities of local stakeholders. This study evaluates how an assessment of the differences between public, national, and international sustainable development priorities, such as the SDGs, might inform inclusive sustainability policies at the local level. Specifically, this paper aims to demonstrate the use of multi-stakeholder goal-alignment assessment through content analysis and public opinion surveys administered in three cities across Henan Province, China. The findings 1) draw from the systematic assessment of stakeholder priorities to identify three typologies of goal-alignment or misalignment that have implications for the design of initiatives that offer co-benefits and for the mediation of trade-offs in meeting sustainability goals, and 2) demonstrate an integrative approach to developing urban sustainability policies and programs using both top-down prescriptive sustainability goals and human-centered experiential priorities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54269,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142531169","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Attribution of environmental outcomes to climate change: Perceptions of coastal communities in the Caribbean","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.envdev.2024.101088","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envdev.2024.101088","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Attribution of environmental outcomes to climate change is a live debate in scholarly and policy circles. Non-scientific attribution by the lay public has value for enriching the discourse, engagements, and decisions on loss and damage, adaptation and mitigation, communication strategies, and the science-policy interface from local to international levels. There is a need for context-specific studies on perceived climate attribution by the lay public. Unlike the few previous studies that focused on attribution of extreme events to climate change by the lay public, the current paper assessed the key compositional and contextual factors that influence the attribution of environmental outcomes with slow onset to climate change. This study surveyed 441 households in eight small coastal communities in three Caribbean countries and applied a generalized linear regression model with a complementary log-log link to assess the relationship between compositional and contextual factors that influence perceived linkage between climate change and environmental outcome. At the bivariate level, the results showed that ethnicity, marital status, household head highest education, household income, and community of living were significant predictors of the likelihood of the perceived linkage between climate change and worsening environmental outcome. At the multivariate level, when all factors have been accounted for, we found that respondents with higher education were 160% more likely to indicate that climate change has adverse effects on environmental outcomes. Respondents with 10 or more years of experience in their present occupation were 73% more likely to suggest a linkage between climate change and worse environmental outcomes. Other strong predictors included income, ethnicity and community of residence. The perceived relationship between climate change and environmental outcomes differed systematically based on the compositional and contextual attributes of respondents. Several significant relationships at the bivariate level persisted at the multivariate level, indicating that the perceived linkages are robust and entrenched. It is concluded that there are heterogeneities in the perceived relationship between climate change and environmental outcomes based on the compositional and contextual factors of the households. Higher education and longer experience in the same occupation contribute significantly to climate attribution by the lay public.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54269,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142531172","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Modeling and scenario building for climate change adaptation planning: The case of large mining in Chile","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.envdev.2024.101089","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envdev.2024.101089","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The mining sector in Chile is a strategic industrial sector for the country. Existing evidence shows that it faces several serious climate change threats; precipitation and flooding, droughts, heatwaves, among others. This scene put pressure on the government and the industry to develop efficient adaptation plans. To date, adaptation plans are designed under the rather linear paradigm of predict-then-act or the impact-lea approach as they are characterized in the IPCC Assessment Report 5 (AR5). Literature and the IPCC reports have identified the limits of those planning paradigms showing the relevance of adaptation barriers or enabling conditions, which should be considered as intrinsic part of the planning problem.</div><div>In methodological terms, planning for climate change risks implies an enriched adaptation plan problem, previously characterized only by an operative climate risk management, that must be described at the beginning of the decision-making process. In this study, our objective is to contribute to the climate change adaptation planning of large-scale mining in Chile. The study is based on a climate change adaptation planning approach that overcomes the limitations of the current paradigm. In doing so, we start from the understanding that what emerges as an object of analysis from adding to the climate risks their enabling managing conditions is a social system. The social system whose function is that social climate risk management takes place. Therefore, we call it the Social Management System for Adaptation to Climate Change (SMSACC). As such the SMSACC should be the adaptation planning key object.</div><div>In the first place we modeled that system applying a qualitative system methodology and then we developed it into a mathematical model based on graph theory, in particular the signed digraphs. This allows us to simulate two types of intervention on the enlarged object of analysis of the large mining adaptation plan. On the one hand, we carried out a future scenario analysis based on prospective tools which enables us to understand the system's answer to different future behavior of its environment, including climate change. On the other hand, we simulate different strategic interventions options on the system, which facilitates understanding the system's reaction under different public policy approaches.</div><div>The modeling and simulation results provided an insightful understanding of the dilemma of social adaptation management of large mining in Chile, and as such they are useful input for the planning process.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54269,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142428069","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}