Giovanni Rosadi, il più antico e costante fautore delle bellezze naturali d’Italia. Relazione introduttiva al convegno nel centenario della scomparsa.

Dynamic economic development, especially of highly industrialised regions, is a real threat to the local community through the too extensive exploitation of the natural environment. In the field of environmental protection, a global policy of sustainable development is applied, of which numerous conventions and international agreements are the evidence. From a regional point of view, however, the policy created by the regional authorities is of greater importance. This claim is also a research hypothesis of this research. Hence, the subject of this study will be the analysis of environmental protection policies carried out by the authorities of two partner municipalities, Józefów in Poland and Bitetto in Italy. The aim of the study is to assess the effectiveness of the activities of the local authorities of two partner municipalities in terms of local environmental protection, and to show that environmental policies should take into account in global and national approaches, but they should take their real shape based on local conditions and needs. The result of the work will be the conclusions on the effectiveness of local environmental protection policy. The study will use the method of analysing local environmental protection strategy and statistical data analysis, and an analysis of Polish and Italian law.

With the 2003 Communication on Integrated Product Policy, the European Commission started focusing more on ‘greening’ Member States’ public procurement law, by encouraging the adoption of National Action Plans (NAPs). Subsequently, with the 2008 Communication, green public procurement (GPP) criteria were developed. Since then, the Commission has developed more than 20 standard GPP criteria, which are currently applied voluntarily. Recently, the EU Commission indicated that they are working on mandating GPP criteria and several legislative proposals are foreseeing the setup of mandatory EU GPP criteria for all Member States. Some domestic legislations have already introduced mandatory GPP criteria. In particular, the Italian legislator followed up the Commission’s initiative on NAPs, and adopted mandatory minimum environmental criteria (MECs) for 18 purchasing categories. This article aims to describe and compare the evolution of GPP criteria in the EU and Italy to illustrate and anticipate possible outcomes for the forthcoming mandatory GPP at the EU level. By doing so, the paper emphasises the prominent role played by the Italian Council of State in ensuring the mandatory minimum for environmental criteria in Italian law. Finally, it argues that the Italian approach, which uses the ineffectiveness of the contract as a general and well-established remedy, has proven successful in ensuring the enforcement of MECs. Keywords: GPP criteria; sustainable public procurement; mandatory minimum environmental criteria; Italian public procurement law; ineffectiveness of public contract

The implementation of European policies on environmental protection is enforcing some substantial modifications in the processing methods and technologies traditionally adopted in the alumina industry and, in particular, in the management of the alumina residue produced. The article analyses the evolution of the alumina production and the residue disposal practices in Western Europe. Some critical aspects regarding the legal implementation of the EU Directive on the landfill of waste are highlighted and discussed. With reference to the requirements established for the landfill of non-hazardous waste, a key point is represented by the possibility of reducing the deposit protection measures if the collection and treatment of leachate is not necessary. The flexibility introduced by the Directive is not incorporated into the Italian law; this fact may represent a major issue in the prospect of disposal conversion from wet to dry methods for companies operating in Italy, as it may endanger the economic sustainability of the plants’ upgrade, as well as the opportunity to attract outside investments.

Energy, environmental and operation aspects of a SRF-fired fluidized bed waste-to-energy plant

The issue of electromagnetism–and related damage to human health–concerns a correct management of the environment and an effective role of the law. The electromagnetic field derives from the link between the electric field and the magnetic field, whose respective sources have a value that varies during time: consequently, electromagnetic waves can be defined as oscillating magnetic and electric fields. The precautionary principle appears in Italian law in the Framework law on electromagnetic pollution. In light of the close relation existing between health protection and the possible adverse health effects caused by electromagnetic waves, it seems appropriate to focus on the multiplicity of relevant positions. Electromagnetic fields are present everywhere in the environment, generated by both natural sources and artificial sources as household appliances, radio, tv, mobile phones, and medical devices. Many laboratory and epidemiological studies have been made to evaluate the link between exposure to magnetic fields and various types of tumours.

According to the Water Framework Directive (WFD), a specific monitoring of Posidonia oceanica meadows was carried out along the Apulian coasts by the Regional Agency for the Environmental Prevention and Protection (ARPA Puglia). A total of 17 sites, 11 in the Southern Adriatic Sea and 6 in the Northern Ionian Sea were investigated during two consecutive monitoring cycles (2009-2011 and 2012-2014). Sampling procedures as well as laboratory analyses (phenology and lepidochronology) were carried out according to a common methodological protocol shared at Italian national level (D.M. 260/2010) for the final ecological classification (sensu WFD) using the PREI index. In each meadow, two sampling stations were investigated by scuba divers at the fixed depth of 15 m and in correspondence of the lower bathymetric distribution limit. For each station, 9 shoots counting (40x40 cm square) and 3 covering estimates (around 5 m of radius) were carried out. In addition, 18 orthotropic shoots and a sediment sample were collected as well as some other bio-ecological data (meadow continuity, dead matte presence, bottom type, invasive algae presence, flowering, disturbance sources, lower limit type and depth). The results showed that 29% of sites were classified as “GOOD”, 59% were classified as ”MODERATE” while the remaining 12% as “POOR”, with a general slight improvement of the classification in the last monitoring cycle (2012-2014). Although the ecological quality status of the Apulian Posidonia oceanica meadows (summarized by the PREI index values) reflects the distribution of anthropic pressures on the coast (harbours, industrial and urbanized areas, river’s outlets) along a latitudinal gradient, the classification based on the rules (reference conditions and EQR boundaries for the PREI index) reported in the Italian law (D.M. 260/2010) seems to underestimate the real ecological status. Consequently, a revision of both the actual reference conditions and EQR boundaries is suggested for the BQE Posidonia oceanica in the Apulian marine waters, in order to taking account of the environmental features of two different marine basins as the south-western Adriatic Sea and the north-western Ionian Sea.

A research on the energy efficiency operational indicator EEOI calculation tool on M/V NSU JUSTICE of VINIC transportation company, Vietnam

The decade spanning the late 1960's through the late 1970's was a period of broad-based and militant social protest in the Appalachian South. In West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, Georgia, and North Carolina thousands of people mobilized both in rural communities and in the urban centers of the region. -There were violent labor disputes in coal mines, textile mills, hospitals, public schools, discount retail stores, nuclear plants, and in the city services sector. -Safety and health issues were fought over in these and many other work places. -Environmental protection and public health issues were debated in local county court houses, state legislatures, and the U.S. Congress while people tried to get some control over serious threats ranging from strip mining to drinking water. -Lack of equity in access to simple community services was protested by welfare rights groups and various coalitions of community-based social justice groups. -Ownership and control of regional resources was challenged by a wide range of local and regional groups, as was the use and misuse of state and federal funds targeted to address the region's persistent poverty. It was a decade when the nation heard many voices from Appalachia-voices that challenged traditional stereotypes and spotlighted an area of the country where articulate and angry people were organizing for basic social and economic change. During this period I was working for a regional newsmagazine based in the central Appalachian coalfields. Because of my work, I was able to meet and get to know many of the people who were leaders in these local and regional movements. In every instance, I found that women were key figures in the protests. They were leaders in the political movements surrounding black lung, brown lung, welfare rights, unionization and union democracy, environmental protection, the provision of community services, use of regional resources, and work place safety and health. Frankly, I was surprised to find this high level of political activity among working-class women in that part of the country. My current research is on two labor disputes in eastern Kentucky that took place in the early 1970's in which large numbers of women were mobilized and in which women played key roles that shaped the nature and outcome of events. This paper focuses on the 1973-74 strike in Harlan County, Kentucky-a strike by coal miners over union representation. That strike resulted in the formation of the now-famous Brookside Women's Club, which is featured in the film Harlan County, U.S.A. The other strike was in Pike County, Kentucky, where over 200 nonprofessional employees of a hospital-most of whom were womenmaintained a twenty-four-hour picket line for over two years in an unsuccessful effort to win union representation. The question of such a high degree of involvement by women in these strikes underlies my research. What was it that got these women mobilized, kept them active, and led them to do things they had not only never done before but also had never dreamed of doing? The strikes were violent; they lasted a long time; they challenged entrenched and powerful elites that controlled both counties where the conflicts occurred. Still, women were at the forefront

The local spatial management plan, adopted in Poland at the level of the municipality, is a source of universally binding law, determines the purpose of the area, the distribution of public purpose investments and defines the ways of development and the conditions for land development. The local plan is the basis for issuing the building permit decision on the areas for which its arrangements apply. It directly interferes with the rights vested in entities in real property and property rights. The provisions of the plan, as an act of universally binding law, bind everyone, including all administrative bodies and courts, as well as property owners. When adopting a local spatial management plan, the commune council should be guided by a number of values, including maintaining spatial order, architectural and landscape values, as well as environmental protection requirements. A local plan is an act of local law, therefore it must contain standards defining the specific purpose of each area covered by the regulation in an unambiguous manner, it cannot contain provisions that make land development conditional on subsequent opinions of public administration authorities or allow any entities to individually agree on deviations from the adopted plan. In practice, however, the ambiguity of provisions regarding environmental protection is noticed, in particular in the interpretation of the concept of biologically active land. The work presents how significantly this problem affects the construction investment.

This study aims to analyze the perceptions and driving factors behind villagers’ changing perceptions of landscape values in the context of drastic landscape changes in traditional Chinese villages. Empirical evidence emphasizes the interplay between local residents’ values and the local policy framework. This study establishes a method to capture the landscape values and preferences of rural community residents by combining participatory mapping with questionnaire interviews. We identified the evaluation of changing landscape values by rural residents and extracted four categories of rural development orientations, namely, economic benefits, emotional culture, public participation, and environmental protection. Furthermore, we delved into the significant heterogeneity in landscape value changes among different social groups. This study highlights the role of villagers’ value judgments in guiding the scientific formulation of traditional village conservation and development policies and promoting the socially sustainable development planning of traditional villages. The research contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the rural community’s needs and preferences for the local landscape as well as the convergence and divergence between these needs and the government-led rural development trajectory.

The institutional activity of the Arno River Basin Authority is focused on two strategical planning processes: the River Basin Management Plan, according to 2000/60/CE European Direcitve, and the Flood Management Plan, according to 2007/60/CE European Directive. Both plans contain most of the contents of Arno River Basin Plan, developed after the italian law L. 183/89, and are tackling with a global approach the management of extreme flood events and water budget problems. In this context, the evaluation of climate change impact on the water cycle is extremely relevant. Therefore the Arno River Basin Authority is engaged to analyze the impact of climate changes on water status, regarding as main reference the IPCC AR4 report e their connected forecasting scenarios. The involvement in a LIFE+ project (WIZ – WaterIZe Spatial Planning) is the framework for a sample of preliminary evaluations, with the aim to include in the next updated edition of River Basin Management Plan new adapting measures (more than mitigation actions), in order to fight the negative impact of climate change on the possibility to achieve the Water Framework Directive’s quality objectives. Focusing the attention on the Lower Arno valley (Valdarno Inferiore) and taking into account as simplifying hypothesis a linear correlation between groundwater recharge and total rainfall fluctuations, the effects of actual and projected climate changes are evaluated. For each water abstraction area, the potential variation of available groundwater for antropic use (in cubic meter per year) is estimated, showing a decreasing trend ranging, with a high spatial variability, in a 5-10% interval. Due the increase of water demand and the distribution network losses, even such a percentage of decreasing potential recharge should be carefully evaluated; without water savings measures and investments on the renovation of distribution networks, an increase of the typical summer water scarcity crisis is high probable.

The unbalanced growth of FDI in China has seriously affected the coordinated development of China’s regional economies. Therefore, to achieve comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development, China’s main strategic task is determining how to adopt positive and effective FDI policies to reduce this regional imbalance in FDI. The purpose of this paper is to explore and study the spillover effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on China’s sustainable development. In this paper, based on the new political economics theory and overflow effects, comparative research and statistical research methods are adopted that combine static and dynamic analysis. Empirical research methods are combined with normative research to analyse the spillover effects of FDI on China’s sustainable development, particularly under the new situation of global crisis and the accompanying difficulties, to determine how to promote China’s FDI and the development of China’s sustainable progress strategy. The study found that in 2018, FDI in China reached a value of 13.466 billion US $, and the year-on-year growth in FDI in recent years has been basically stable at approximately 4 %. Asia is the main source of FDI in China. In 2018, the amount of FDI in Asia reached $109.1938.7 billion, accounting for 83.33 % of the total investment. Hong Kong, with its unique advantages, accounted for 72.12 % of FDI in China. FDI inflows are mainly directed to primary industry and the service sector, and the growth rate of foreign investment in 2016 in these sectors was 68.52 and 170.77 %, respectively, compared with 2007. FDI also mainly flows to the eastern region of China. By the end of 2018, the amount of foreign capital utilized in the eastern region reached $1,622.9 billion, representing 85.4 % of the aggregate FDI in China. The effect of FDI on China mainly focuses on three areas: economic growth, social development and environmental protection. FDI has brought positive spillover effects to China’s sustainable evolution, but with China’s continuous development, especially the change in its economic development mode, it has been consistently exposed to negative spillover effects.

Seventieth anniversary of Professor Engineer Zbigniew Dąbrowski - key figure in Polish vibroacoustics. Professor Dąbrowski is an outstanding Polish scientist in the disciplines of mechanics and machine construction and exploitation. He has established an original scientific school of solving non-linear problems in machine construction and diagnostics. In 2009–2015 he presided the Section of Vibroacoustics of Accoustics Committee at Polish Academy of Sciences. Currently he is the president of the Section of Architecture, Environment Protection and Vibroacoustics of the same Committee.

SRP Meeting: Radiation Emergency Preparedness, London, 24 June 1998

Aircraft noise pollution has been monitored around Milano-Linate airport since early 80s. Accomplishing EU principle “the polluter pays”, Italian law in 1995 assigned to airport handling companies the responsability of noise monitoring systems, operating costs and manteinance. The Lombardia airport system consists of three main airports: Milano Malpensa (international hub), Milano Linate (international and city airport), Bergamo Orio al Serio (international and cargo). About 23% of the whole Italian traffic involves this airport system (about 26 million of passengers and 400 kT of freight). Despite of the committment in this activity (several Remote Monitoring Terminals (RMT) are installed around Malpensa, 5 around Linate and 5 around Orio al Serio) communities living around airports demand the presence of a neutral authority auditing the process from noise measurement, managed by handling companies, to environmental impact assessment, carried out by a special Committee collecting members from each Airport Authority. This audit activity can cut off some prejudices, connected with the handling company role, which has the responsibility of monitoring its customers (i.e. aircraft companies) and can achieve a major certainty about noise assessment. Regional Environmental Protection Agency (ARPA) acts as auditor: this is one of its insitutional tasks assigned by Italian legislation. Its aim is asserting the validity of measurement in order to achieve a good significance about noise indexes. ARPA elaborated a standard procedure for accomplishing this role, in analogy with the Quality Assurance approach. This standard procedure includes two steps: the first one concerns the collection of information by means of a questionnaire given to the airport monitoring system conductor; thereafter, an auditor team performs a complete inspection with the support of a checklist, providing also measurements close to remote monitoring terminals using a reference instrumentation. The checklist includes 16 steps, for a total of 128 items concerning the monitoring system, intended as a whole, and 58 items about remote monitoring terminals (RMT), which are controlled one by one. The checklist follows a logical track, starting from measures, following with data processing and concluding with impact assessment. Each item in the checklist is splitted into seven sections: legislation reference, answer to question, conformance, control flag, test description, annexes, presence of comment – if needed, a specific comment is included in the checklist related report. This structure has the capability to perform a complete survey on the whole system. The control of each monitoring system is periodical, and is carried out throught a minimum of two surveys per year. In the paper we present a brief outline of italian law about noise and we discuss in detail the checklist, its scope and pratical operating procedure.