Environmental Management最新文献

In Türkiye, where nearly all forests are publicly owned, the government exercises substantial authority over forest management and utilization. This study examines how legislative and regulatory changes in forestry have shaped local outcomes, focusing on the tension between economic priorities and ecological sustainability. Methodologically, the study combines Hamilton’s institutional approach, highlighting the role of legal frameworks, administrative routines, and authority structures in shaping governance, with Foucault’s concept of governmentality, which emphasizes how power is exercised through norms, regulations, and technical knowledge. This dual framework is applied through a qualitative document analysis of forestry laws, development plans, and policy papers. The findings show that while official statistics suggest an overall expansion of forest area, regional patterns reveal increasing pressures on natural forests to supply industrial raw materials, and growing reliance on non-forestry permits within forest boundaries. These outcomes demonstrate that governance mechanisms and legislative amendments have systematically prioritized economic utilization. The study concludes that the Turkish case illustrates how institutionalized governance choices, mediated through law and regulation, may simultaneously enable resource mobilization and accelerate long-term forest degradation. These insights emphasize the need for policy frameworks that better balance economic development with ecological preservation, offering lessons for sustainable forest governance globally.

The spread of microplastics in urban environments is an increasingly highlighted environmental problem. To prevent their spread, the treatment of stormwater from urban surfaces in bioretention filters may be a possible solution. This research project aimed to identify the occurrence and pathways for microplastics in bioretention filters that receive contaminated stormwater from impervious surfaces in a city. Sampling was conducted in selected bioretention filters, incorporating soil sampling at different depths and flow-proportional stormwater sampling during various rain events. Eleven different polymers on particles >10 µm were analysed in the soil samples and stormwater with Thermal Extraction and Desorption Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (TED-GC/MS). Additionally, some of the stormwater samples were analysed by pyrolysis PYR-GC/MS on particles >27 µm. The polymers most prevalent in all samples were polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polystyrene (PS). The study revealed variations in polymer composition between water and soil samples, with a tendency for more polar polymers, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), to be more prevalent in water samples. This suggests differential transport and retention mechanisms for various polymer types, with more polar polymers perhaps being more soluble or less likely to adhere to soil particles, thus remaining more abundant in stormwater runoff. Further investigation is needed to fully understand the implications of these findings for the design and optimization of bioretention systems in capturing a broad spectrum of microplastic pollutants. Furthermore, the highest microplastic concentrations in soil samples were found in the upper layers of the bioretention filters, demonstrating effective microplastic reduction through their accumulation in soil. However, different outcomes were observed between the analytical methods and some uncertainties in the analysis, necessitating further studies with simultaneous sampling and analysis by different analytical methods of both soil and stormwater. Overall, the investigated bioretention filters proved to be efficient measures for reducing the spread of microplastics from impervious surfaces, preventing their release to recipient surface waters.

Public support for restoration in sensitive ecosystems like the Everglades depends in part on individual-level concern and perceptions of impact from environmental threats. This study examines how environmental knowledge and ideological and political factors (IPFs)– cultural worldview (CWV), political ideology, and voting behavior – influence Floridians’ concern for the Everglades and their perceptions of impact for six different threats to the Everglades. Two of these threats, sea level rise and changes in precipitation, relate directly to climate change and thus are more likely to evoke ideological or political responses from participants. Analysis of our sample of 1437 Floridians reveals that: (1) Of the IPFs, CWV had the largest influence on environmental concern and perceptions of impact, except for in the case of sea level rise, for which voting behavior superseded CWV, (2) environmental knowledge had a larger influence on perceptions of impact for environmental threats that are not ideologically entangled (e.g. water quality), (3) IPFs had a larger influence on perceptions of impact from threats that are ideologically entangled (i.e. sea level rise and changes in precipitation), and (4) those with Communitarian-Egalitarian worldviews held higher levels of concern and perceived greater risk impacts on all but one of the threats (invasive species), although some differences vary across the distribution of environmental knowledge. These findings improve our understanding of how environmental knowledge and IPFs shape public concern for and perceptions of threats to the Greater Everglades ecosystem. These insights can help in developing communication strategies that generate public support for restoration.

Half of the world’s population currently lives in cities, leading to significant landscape transformations that affect freshwater ecosystems. These changes include increased imperviousness and water runoff, frequent municipal and industrial discharges, and the destruction of riparian corridors and floodplains, resulting in a consistent decline in biodiversity and ecosystem services, and posing new challenges for both environmental and human health. In the last decades, we observed an increase in water-related policies, echoing growing concern with water safety and freshwater ecosystems degradation. However, existing policies frequently fail to provide practical or efficient results or are insufficient. The present manuscript aims to highlight relevant international legislation and directives and to identify potential gaps that should be tackled to promote the protection of urban river and stream ecosystems as well as human health in cities. Despite the existence of EU norms that can protect the urban river and streams ecosystems in the European Union, such as the Water Framework Directive, the Habitats Directive, the Environmental Liability Directive and the Nature Restoration Regulation, or different agendas at a global level, the legislation is dispersed, subject to different interpretations and to conflicting interests in the city’s management. Therefore, urban freshwater ecosystems would benefit from the establishment of specific legislation that supports the action of municipal authorities, protecting their biodiversity and safeguarding adequate ecosystem functioning, the existence of floodplains, natural margins, and riparian forests, to guarantee a safe environment and improved well-being for the population of cities.

Understanding forest management impacts on understory vegetation and belowground processes is essential for sustainable forestry. This study employed a controlled and replicated field experiment to investigate how four forest management practices—three active practices (TTFM: removal of unwanted competitors of selected target trees; SBFM: optimization of forest spatial structure through selective thinning; SFCS: reduction of stand density via timber harvesting) and an unmanaged control (NT)—affect forest structure, light regimes, understory vegetation, soil nutrients, enzymes and examines their interrelationships. Current study was conducted in a natural oak forest within the Xiaolongshan Nature Reserve, Gansu Province, China, where the different management practices have been implemented since 2013. The design consisted of four randomly assigned replicate plots per treatment (16 plots in total). Within each plot, composite soil samples were collected from three depths (0–10, 10–20, and 20–30 cm) using a randomized five-point sampling method. Redundancy Analysis was employed to elucidate the key factors governing soil nutrient and enzyme activities. SBFM significantly enhanced soil acid phosphatase activity at 20–30 cm. Furthermore, both SBFM and TTFM reduced the available phosphorus content at 10–20 cm compared to the NT. Tree mingling, dominance, shrub Shannon diversity, and shrub and herb nitrogen and phosphorus content emerged as primary drivers of soil nutrient and enzyme dynamics. These findings demonstrate that SBFM enhances soil nutrient and enzyme processes. Forest structure-light coupling and understory vegetation jointly regulates soil nutrients and enzymes. This study provides guidance for improving forest management toward ecosystem sustainability.

Impacts of agriculture are commonly assessed using farm-level tools, especially when the primary objective is to provide environmental management advice on technology adoption and production practices. Among these tools, Ambitec-Agro, developed in 2003 based on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) framework, has been widely applied to evaluate the socioenvironmental performance of agricultural technologies in a cost-effective and efficient manner. In light of new international governance commitments related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this manuscript presents the updated version of Ambitec-Agro and its alignment with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development focused on crop production. A qualitative, descriptive, and exploratory methodology was adopted, including the selection of relevant SDGs and the revision of the tool’s indicators through document analysis, expert consultation, and literature review. The original tool comprises 2 dimensions, 7 aspects, 27 criteria, and 148 indicators. The updated version maintains the original structure and core principles but includes 25 criteria and 139 indicators. A total of 66 indicators were revised: 18 were removed, 14 added, 2 reallocated across criteria, 22 modified, and 10 merged into 5. These revisions enhance the tool’s relevance, coherence, and applicability for evaluating agricultural technologies in the context of contemporary sustainability priorities.

The implementation of low-carbon consumption incentive strategies is necessary to promote low-carbon consumption in the context of carbon emission reduction. Using data from China, this paper investigates consumers’ preferences regarding low-carbon consumption incentive strategies through a choice experiment. The results demonstrate that consumers exhibit a strong demand for low-carbon consumption incentive strategies, and the relative importance of the strategy features is ranked as low-carbon certification, reward forms, low-carbon information, and sales channel. In terms of certification, consumers prefer government certification the most, followed by international and domestic third-party certifications. As for reward forms, material rewards are preferred over spiritual rewards. Concerning information, consumers prefer labels with richer information over concise labels. Additionally, a specialized sales channel is demanded by consumers. These findings provide valuable insights for improving low-carbon consumption incentive strategies.

The release of contaminants into the environment can occur from anthropogenic activities, such as oil extraction and transportation, mining, and industrial processes. Remediation associated with reducing contaminant concentrations, and restoration that improves animals and supporting habitat, are often needed to restore ecosystems to their pre-release, baseline condition. We demonstrated the application of Bayesian Decision Networks (BDNs) with two Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) case studies. We use a stylized case study of riparian restoration following the remediation of a mine-impacted site to evaluate proposed restoration actions aimed at restoring Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) populations to baseline conditions. We then use a settled NRDAR case with implemented restoration in the Upper Arkansas River (UAR, Colorado, USA) to demonstrate the application of BDNs to evaluate and forecast restoration effectiveness for Brown Trout (Salmo trutta) (i.e., restoration effectiveness assessment). The riparian restoration model showed differences in the effects of restoration actions on Song Sparrow populations, with the time to reach baseline generally reduced with increased restoration costs, indicating trade-offs between costs and expected recovery. The UAR model showed recovery of Brown Trout populations (i.e., uplift) in response to improved instream habitat restoration, along with forecasted improvements. While the BDNs we developed were specific to two case studies, the structure is adaptable to a diversity of sites, resources, and actions. We suggest that causal network modeling can provide restoration practitioners with a decision advisory tool useful for a wide range of projects.

The Indonesia Disaster Village Resilience (Destana) Program has five primary objectives, one of which is to systematically conduct disaster risk assessments. This objective involves evaluating hazards, vulnerabilities, capacities, and risks through the community’s participation for the benefit of those same communities. It has been integrated and formalized within local governance structures. Nevertheless, there is a notable lack of systematic research regarding the adoption and utilization of the standard in guiding and structuring community-driven disaster and climate risk assessments. This study is one of the first systematic efforts to adopt the ‘Destana Standard’ as a ‘formal resilience measure’ to assess risk and vulnerability at the village level. The research conducted surveyed 60 villages in the small but densely populated Ternate Island, Eastern Indonesia. The findings identify parameters that highlight strengths and weaknesses in building resilience among villages, such as access to basic services, disaster management systems, risk reduction actions, and emergency and recovery preparedness. The findings also indicate that the ‘Destana Standard’ can serve as an index to develop village resilience. The research contributes to highlighting gaps and opportunities for the village resilience measure and offers a reflection on how to complement existing risk assessment for improving village resilience and strengthening the capacity of local governments to deal with mitigation and adaptation effectively to achieve the target of the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular the targets 11 (sustainable cities and communities) and 13 (climate action).

In Tanzania, ecosystem services such as water purification, flood regulation, fish habitats, and nutrient transport remain uncommodified, as they are viewed as public goods rather than tradable services, leading to overuse and water resource degradation. Consequently, the institutional arrangements for their commodification are poorly understood. This study investigates these aspects in the Lower Rufiji Sub-Basin, using data from 391 households selected through simple random sampling, along with insights from 22 key informants at the district and national levels. The findings indicate that the commodification of these services will require amendments to existing legislation, as current environmental legislations do not address their commodification. The study identified a range of organizations that could play key roles in the commodification process, with responsibilities spanning regulatory reforms, as well as in the design and implementation phases. Potential approaches for commodifying these services were identified, including the imposition of direct user charges or fees, tying of ecosystem service values into the market prices of goods such as water and fish, and the introduction of credit or quota systems. Based on these findings, the study recommends that the government (1) revise existing environmental legislations, (2) establish a robust institutional framework for commodifying these services that include actors at the community, district and national levels, and (3) adopt a mixed approach to commodification in order to accommodate households with diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Moreover, as these services remain uncommodified even in regions beyond Tanzania, this study offers valuable insights for those seeking to develop similar frameworks.