The Irving Whale and Environmental Governance in the Gulf of St. Lawrence

With the rapid growth of economy and development of urbanization and industrialization in China, environmental degradation is worse. Although the Chinese government has adopted a whole array of measures to strengthen environmental protection, the government has faced challenges in effectiveness and efficiency of environmental governance. Hence, it is necessary to make greater efforts to improve institutional innovation in environmental management, so as to meet the environmental challenges.

The willingness and behavior of residents to engage in environmental governance and protection are the most direct drivers of environmental improvement, and constitute a vital foundation for achieving ecologically livable conditions and the reform of ecological civilization systems. Based on survey data from 769 respondents collected in Chongqing, this study aims to explore the relationship among social capital, environmental awareness, government satisfaction, and residents' participation in environmental governance, in order to reveal the key factors that promote eco-friendly behaviors. This paper uses SPSS25.0 to conduct descriptive statistics, one-factor analysis of variance, correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis, mediation effect tests and other statistical methods. The results demonstrate that social capital exerts a significant positive impact on residents' participation in environmental governance. Moreover, social capital is significantly positively correlated with key factors such as environmental awareness and government satisfaction. In particular, participation willingness has a significant positive effect on participation behavior, highlighting the importance of motivating individual willingness to participate. Further analysis reveals that environmental awareness plays a partial mediating role between social capital and participation willingness, whereas the mediating effect of government satisfaction is not significant, indicating that enhancing environmental awareness is one of the key pathways to promote participation behavior. The findings of this study are significant for formulating and implementing more effective environmental protection policies and measures, emphasizing the strategy of promoting residents' participation in environmental governance by enhancing social capital and raising public environmental awareness.

With the anticipated boom in the ‘blue economy’ and associated increases in industrialization across the world’s oceans, new and complex risks are introduced to ocean ecosystems. As a result, conservation and resource management increasingly look to factor in potential interactions among the social, ecological and economic components of these systems. Investigation of these interactions requires interdisciplinary frameworks that incorporate methods and insights from across the social and biophysical sciences. Risk assessment methods, which have been developed across numerous disciplines and applied to various real-world settings and problems, provide a unique connection point for cross-disciplinary engagement. However, research on risk is often conducted in distinct spheres by experts whose focus is on narrow sources or outcomes of risk. Movement towards a more integrated treatment of risk to ensure a balanced approach to developing and managing ocean resources requires cross-disciplinary engagement and understanding. Here, we provide a primer on risk assessment intended to encourage the development and implementation of integrated risk assessment processes in the emerging blue economy. First, we summarize the dominant framework for risk in the ecological / biophysical sciences. Then, we discuss six key insights from the long history of risk research in the social sciences that can inform integrated assessments of risk: 1) consider the subjective nature of risk, 2) understand individual social and cultural influences on risk perceptions, 3) include diverse expertise, 4) consider the social scales of analysis, 5) incorporate quantitative and qualitative approaches, and 6) understand interactions and feedbacks within systems. Finally, we show how these insights can be incorporated into risk assessment and management, and apply them to a case study of whale entanglements in fishing gear off the U.S. west coast.

Since the reform and opening up, China's economy has grown by leaps and bounds, and many significant achievements have been made in just over forty years. However, rapid economic growth has also brought about serious resource consumption and environmental pollution, especially represented by water and air pollution. At present, the overall strategy of sustainable development and ecological civilisation requires environmental governance to be a public task that must be addressed, and ecological governance is an integral part of the modernisation of governance systems and capabilities. The report of the 19th National Congress points out that "the strictest ecological and environmental protection system in history will be built, and more attention will be paid to guiding the public to play an effective role in environmental governance. Establish an environmental governance system in which the government is the leader, enterprises are the main body, and social organisations and the public participate." It is clear from this that environmental governance is a systematic project that needs to be shared between the government and the public. This paper investigates the relationship between government satisfaction with environmental governance, government responsiveness and citizens' political participation to explore the impact of government responsiveness and political participation on satisfaction with environmental governance, as well as the impact of government responsiveness on citizens' participation in environmental governance.

PurposeThis study aims to build a global environmental quality protection convention to jointly address the problems of environmental pollution governance worldwide.Design/methodology/approachFrom the perspective of environmental pollution of the air, ocean, forest, water and solid waste, the authors summarize the main important measures and mechanisms of environmental pollution governance in various countries.FindingsThe results indicate that management research on biodiversity and natural resources must be strengthened, the relationship between economic development and environmental quality management needs to be balanced, the comparative study of domestic and international environmental governance theories and practices should be strengthened, empirical and applied research on environmental governance needs to be focused on, and complete system research on environmental governance and management should be explored. In the future, further strengthening environmental awareness, addressing environmental pollution and managing environmental quality are necessary.Originality/valueThe environment is the foundation of human survival and development. With the development of economy, contradictions between human and natural environment (e.g. air, ocean, forest and water) have become prominent. Environmental pollution governance cannot only help address existing environmental problems but also solve economic problems of various countries. The prerequisite for sustainable development is to lay a solid foundation for the coordinated development of economic growth and pollution management.

The EU has emerged as a major source of innovation in environmental governance. This is manifested through the frameworks it is putting in place for environmental governance, and through its position on the world stage for international environmental law. An institutional richness has developed which is sometimes daunting in its complexity but which offers much promise for the future. This book seeks to give a taste of this, and of the challenges which face the EU in its sustainable development phase. The book opens with a broad historical overview of the evolution of EU environmental governance. This discussion characterizes the most recent phase as that of sustainable development, in which the political dynamic is one of destabilization and the preferred instrument of decision-making, the reflexive framework directive. There follows a series of case studies, ranging from the general to the particular, that cover both the internal and external aspects of EU policy. These include recent key issues in EU environmental law and governance, such as the water framework directive, the new chemicals regime (REACH), and European responses to the challenge of climate change. These case studies engage with key issues in environmental law and governance, including environmental justice, the relationship between trade and environment, and participation in environmental decision-making.

Development at the expense of the environment has led to severe environmental problems in China. Faced with the increasing demand for green from the masses, environmental pollution is not only a health issue but also a political issue. In order to achieve the dual goals of “economic growth” and “ecological protection”, the state vigorously advocates green innovation. In order to solve the problem of ineffective local environmental governance and official inaction, the environmental protection interview system came into being. After the region was interviewed for environmental protection, the government strengthened environmental governance and greatly increased the environmental costs of enterprises through stricter environmental regulations, reduction of environmental protection subsidies, and increased tax penalties. So, under the theme of green development, does environmental protection interview increase the willingness of enterprises to innovate and stimulate the improvement of the level of enterprise green innovation? What is the role of government subsidies? As an exogenous event, the implementation of the New Deal for Environmental Protection Interview in 2014 provides a good environment for us to test the effect of environmental protection interview policies. Based on the corporate citizenship theory and the planned behavior theory, this paper uses the DID method to explore the impact of environmental protection interview on enterprise green innovation, as well as the regulatory role of government environmental protection subsidies. The results show that: （1） Environmental protection interview has significantly improved the level of enterprise green innovation in interviewed regions, especially the level of practical green innovation. （2） Government environmental protection subsidies have a significant impact on the effect of environmental protection interview policies; and the lower the government environmental protection subsidy level, the stronger the role of environmental protection interview in promoting enterprise green innovation. （3） The driving force for enterprises in interviewed regions to carry out green innovation comes from internal self-regulation and external environmental constraints. The contribution of this paper lies in that: （1） In the research of environmental protection interview and green innovation, few scholars start from government support, considering the regulatory role of government environmental protection subsidies in this impact path. At the same time, no scholar eliminates the “noise” of non-environmental protection subsidies, and studies the impact of government environmental protection subsidies on the effect of environmental protection interview policies. （2） Existing studies mostly examine the impact of environmental protection interview on regional environmental governance and corporate behavior, but few pay much attention to the impact of government behavior on the effect of environmental interview policies. （3） Existing studies mostly examine the usefulness and adaptability of green innovation, ignoring the social attributes of enterprises, the necessity of corporate citizenship behavior, and the behavioral intention of enterprises. Based on the corporate citizenship theory and the planned behavior theory, this paper reveals the role of environmental protection interview and government environmental protection subsidies on enterprise green innovation strategies. （4） Incorporating government environmental protection subsidies into the theoretical analysis framework explains the impact of government environmental protection subsidies on environmental protection interview and enterprise green innovation, which is an important supplement to the effect of environmental protection interview policies in the context of China’s green development in the new era. It is a good reference for government departments to use government support to serve the environmental protection interview system, improve the effectiveness of environmental protection interview policies, and extend the timeliness of the effectiveness of environmental protection interview policies.

In the context of the“new normal”of China’s economy, serious environmental pollution is hindering the high-quality development of China’s economy. Environmental governance is inseparable from the protection of the rule of law, but in China’s traditional environmental governance, the administrative department and the judicial department perform their respective duties, which easily leads to environmental pollution governance as a mere formality. Promoting the effective linkage of environmental administration and environmental justice is the inherent requirement of improving the ecological environment and promoting the green and high-quality development of economy. Based on the data of 287 prefecture-level cities in China from 2010 to 2018, this paper uses the multi-period DID method to empirically test the pollution emission reduction effect of the public interest litigation system by procuratorate. First of all, we test the impact of the public interest litigation system by procuratorate on industrial emissions as a whole. The numbers of civil, administrative and criminal incidental civil cases are chosen as the dependent variables to test the implementation of the system. Secondly, we use the mediation effect model to explore the internal mechanism of the public interest litigation system by procuratorate to improve the performance of urban environmental governance. Thirdly, we test the heterogeneity of all prefecture-level cities. Finally, the parallel trend test and the placebo test are used to test the robustness of the results. The findings are as follows: Firstly, the public interest litigation system by procuratorate can effectively reduce the emissions of industrial pollutants and improve the performance of urban environmental governance. Secondly, its main mechanism is to promote the governance of urban environmental pollution through environmental supervision of procuratorial organs, judicial and administrative linkage, and enhancing the participation of citizens in environmental governance. Thirdly, the public interest litigation system by procuratorate has a better emission reduction effect in the central region. At the same time, the system has a good implementation effect in key environmental protection cities. Based on the above, this paper believes that we should strengthen the linkage between environmental administration and environmental justice from the construction of the ecological co-governance system of multiple administrative and judicial subjects, and the construction of the communication and cooperation mechanism between procuratorial organs, the public and environmental protection organizations.

Purpose This chapter provides a legal and theoretical overview of environmental PPMs articulated in private standards. It seeks to expand the debate about environmental PPMs, elucidating important dimensions to the issue from the perspective of global governance and international trade law. One of the arguments advanced in this chapter is that a comprehensive analysis of environmental PPMs should consider not only their role in what is regarded as trade barriers (governmental and market driven) but also their significance in global objectives such as the transition towards a green economy and sustainable patterns of consumption and production. Methodology/approach This chapter is based on an extensive literature review and doctrinal legal research. Findings This research shows that environmental PPMs represent a key issue in the context of the trade and environment relationship. For decades such measures have been thought of as being trade distortive and thus incompatible with WTO law. Although it seems clear now that they are not unlawful per se, their legal status remains unsettled. PPMs can be regarded as regulatory choices associated with a wide range of environmental concerns. However, in trade disputes, challenged measures involving policy objectives addressing production issues in the conservation of natural resources tend to focus on fishing/harvesting techniques. On the other hand, an important goal of Global Environmental Governance (GEG) is to incentivise sustainable consumption and production in order to achieve the transition to a green economy. In this sense, it can be argued that what are generally denominated as ‘PPMs’ in the WTO terminology can alternatively be regarded ‘SCPs’ in the language of environmental governance. Environmental PPMs are not only limited to state-based measures, such as import bans, tariff preferences, and governmental labelling schemes. Environmental PPMs may also amount to good corporate practices towards environmental protection and provide the rationale for numerous private environmental standards. Practical implications Most academic attention afforded to environmental-PPMs has focused on their impacts on trade or their legality under WTO law. Although legal scholars have already referred to the significance of such measures in the context of environmental governance, this issue has remained almost entirely unexplored. This chapter seeks to fill the gap in the literature in this regard. In particular, it addresses the relevance of environmental PPMs in the context of decentralised governance initiatives such as the UN Global Compact and private environmental standards. Originality/value Overall, this chapter assists in the understanding of the significance of environmental PPMs in the context of private environmental standards and other governance initiatives involving goals related to sustainable consumption and production. This chapter adds to the existing body of literature on the subject of PPMs in international trade and environmental governance.

The connections between social and biophysical sciences are being forged in new ways as researchers and practitioners of natural resources seek to understand how lands can be managed for the benefit of human societies and the broader biotic community. Increasingly, we recognize that social and physical systems are tightly integrated, with human actions and decisions both shaping and shaped by the ecological systems in which they are embedded (e.g., Carpenter et al. 2009). In this context, a variety of social actors, including scientists, managers, policy makers, and the public, are collectively playing a larger role in decisions about environmental governance (e.g., collaboratives, chap. 9), drawing upon an accumulating body of knowledge describing the dynamics of complex socioecological systems. Learning-based approaches using adaptive-management experiments (chap. 8) represent one particular type of formal tool that can be appropriated to this process of adaptive environmental governance.

The Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984 brought to the fore the lacunae in the environmental laws and the need for a more robust and comprehensive legislation, which resulted in the Environment Protection (EP) Act 1986. There are a number of legislations enacted under the EP Act that are relevant to urban environment – solid waste, air pollution, e-waste in groundwater and the most challenging issue of urban land use laws. Environmental governance should also be analysed in the context of prevalent laws and institutions administering the environmental policies and programmes. Compliance, enforcement, violations and dispute settlement are the key components of environmental governance. This chapter examines these components in the context of urban environmental laws. Four specific cases in which compliance has eluded the law have been discussed as well as the role of other factors such as technology, stakeholder participation, capacity building and a defined financial mechanism in effective environmental governance.

Environmental justice governance is affected not just by the political context within which it is executed but also by the choices made by the individuals who are responsible for implementing, enacting, and enforcing policies. In this article, I examine the experiences of seven African American women at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to argue that their lived experiences of oppression affect their approach to environmental justice governance. Using an intersectional environmental justice framework and drawing on semistructured interviews, I contend that these women believe that they have to go above and beyond for the environmental justice communities they serve because they are their communities. One way they do this is by drawing on the networks they have due to their positionality as EPA employees to connect communities to resources to which they might not otherwise have access. In this way, they help communities while still staying within the confines of the regulatory framework imposed on them. In conclusion, I contend that it is necessary to examine the mechanism of environmental justice governance and to do that we must pay attention to the intersectional identities of the people who enact these policies. Key Words: black geographies, environmental governance, environmental justice, Environmental Protection Agency, intersectionality.

Understanding the translation of scientific knowledge about arsenic risk exposure among private well water users in Nova Scotia

Environmental governance in the twenty-first century in Bangladesh faces serious challenges in terms of improving service delivery. There are surfeits of laws, rules and regulations as well as institutions to manage and govern the environmental sector. The legal regime is quite comprehensive, yet little attempts have been made so far to iron out the contradictions and duplications among existing rules and regulations. Institutions continue to suffer because of a number of reasons. Coordination among different ministries and other agencies in the governmental and non-governmental sectors is poor. Inter-organizational meetings and other follow-up meetings are not regularly held and usually fail to achieve their intended objectives. Though attempts have been made to involve people at the formulation stage of action plans, seldom people are taken into confidence and consulted with when these plans are implemented. One of the consequences of such a situation is people’s lack of interest in government-sponsored environmental protection programs. The decision-making procedure/situation of different environmental development projects and policies did not follow the holistic or coordinated principles so that post-impacts of works appeared vast and diverse conflicts. This paper tries to search the history of environmental protection of Bangladesh, relevant environmental laws, rules, regulations and projects and major international conventions, treaties, and protocols signed or ratified by Bangladesh as well as investigates the current situation, mechanism and decision making regarding environment in the context of environmental governance, analyzing the problems and also explored the challenges for environmental management in Bangladesh and associated problems and risks of system and finally proposed some core guidelines of effective environmental governance and system management for Bangladesh.

With the development of economy, the attention of ecological environment is increasing day by day, and the ecological environment has its special integrity, which makes the local governments cooperate in governance. Local governments for environmental protection industry and environmental division and governance program differences and local responsibilities and other issues, environmental governance intergovernmental cooperation is facing difficulties. Through the establishment of shared interests, strengthening incentives, changing models to create a new inter-governmental governance path, mining suitable for China’s current development of inter-governmental cooperation environmental governance path, to promote the benign development of environmental protection industry governance advice.