The waterfront in the South Bronx in New York City is used industrially and harbors the Harlem River Yards (HRY). The HRY borders an environmental justice area, which includes a mixed-use area that is separated from a densely populated residential area by interstates. Recently, development of the HRY has expanded including the 2018 opening of a large online store warehouse. The goal of this study was to evaluate trends in traffic congestion nearby the HRY between 2017 to 2019. We analyzed one-hourly time series of crowd-sensed traffic congestion maps, both at the neighborhood scale and the road stretch level. Traffic radar measurements at two locations did not indicate bias in the crowd-sensed data over the study period, i.e., changed mappings between vehicle speed and the reported congestion. In the mixed-use areas, traffic congestion increased significantly during all hours of the day, with greatest increases at night and in the morning. Congestion increased close to the entrances of the HRY and along routes used by pedestrians and bicyclists to access a nearby recreational area. In the residential area, congestion increased significantly from midnight to morning and was unchanged for the remainder of the day. On the interstates, congestion decreased during the daytime but increased at night. Neighborhood-scale traffic congestion increased in mixed-use and residential areas in an environmental justice community. Our methods can be applied globally as long as crowd-sensed traffic data can be acquired. The data enable communities to advocate for mitigating measures.

Water quality impairment by elevated sediment loss is a pervasive problem for global water resources. Sediment management targets identify exceedance or the sediment loss 'gap' requiring mitigation. In the UK, palaeo-limnological reconstruction of sediment loss during the 100-150 years pre-dating the post-World War II intensification of agriculture, has identified management targets (0.20-0.35 t ha-1 yr-1) representing 'modern background sediment delivery to rivers'. To assess exceedance on land for grazing ruminant farming, an integrated approach combined new mechanistic evidence from a heavily-instrumented experimental farm platform and a scaling out framework of modelled commercial grazing ruminant farms in similar environmental settings. Monitoring (2012-2016) on the instrumented farm platform returned sediment loss ranges of 0.11-0.14 t ha-1 yr-1 and 0.21-0.25 t ha-1 yr-1 on permanent pasture, compared with between 0.19-0.23 t ha-1 yr-1 and 0.43-0.50 t ha-1 yr-1and 0.10-0.13 t ha-1 yr-1and 0.25-0.30 t ha-1 yr-1 on pasture with scheduled plough and reseeds. Excess sediment loss existed on all three farm platform treatments but was more extensive on the two treatments with scheduled plough and reseeds. Excessive sediment loss from land used by grazing ruminant farming more strategically across England, was estimated to be up to >0.2 t ha-1 yr-1. Modelled scenarios of alternative farming futures, based on either increased uptake of interventions typically recommended by visual farm audits, or interventions selected using new mechanistic understanding for sediment loss from the instrumented farm platform, returned minimum sediment loss reductions. On the farm platform these were 2.1 % (up to 0.007 t ha-1 yr-1) and 5.1 % (up to 0.018 t ha-1 yr-1). More strategically, these were up to 2.8 % (0.014 t ha-1 yr-1) and 4.1 % (0.023 t ha-1 yr-1). Conventional on-farm measures will therefore not fully mitigate the sediment loss gap, meaning that more severe land cover change is required.

Abstract The complexity associated with achieving sustainable river basin management plans for international, transboundary river basins, such as the Tisza River Basin in central Europe, make them an ideal study area for examining the influence of education and experience on stakeholder perception of basin management. This study presents findings from analysis of in-person surveys to examine differences in local stakeholder perceptions and involvement in the Tisza River Basin through analysis of participants’ levels of knowledge, experience, and involvement in basin management. The survey was conducted among members of the public in locations across the basin, in which participants were asked to identify and rank their opinions of factors affecting the health of the river basin, to identify observed changes in flood patterns, and to rank their level of interest and participation in basin management activities. To evaluate whether experience affected responses, participants were grouped demographically according to whether they worked in the public or private sector, their level of education (no college, undergraduate, or graduate school), gender and country of residence. Significant differences in stakeholder responses were found between education levels attained among participants in the public versus the private sector, and between the reported levels of environmental concern among participants of different education levels. Participants also reported low levels of participation and monitoring of management activities. These differences and lack of participation support the need for public education in participatory governance structures to support sustainable river basin management efforts.

Abstract To reduce GHG emissions, the 27 European Union Member States committed themselves in 2007 to reduce emissions from 1990 levels by 20% by 2020. In January 2008, the EU Commission gave the first country-specific proposals to reduce emissions in sectors outside the EU emission trading system (non-ETS). In this study, we looked at several ways of sharing emission reductions in the non-ETS sector. We considered population and economic growth as significant drivers of the development of emissions. In particular, we analyzed development in GHG intensity of economies. Reduction requirements vary greatly among countries depending on the principle of effort sharing. The results of our calculations can be perceived as examples of how effort sharing between the EU Member States could look like when certain assumptions are made. Generally they illustrate the sensitivity of the results to data used, assumptions made, and method applied. The main strength of simple top-down approaches is transparency. A major weakness is a very limited ability to consider national circumstances. Political negotiations are ultimately crucial; an analysis like this provides material for negotiations and makes a contribution to solving the effort-sharing problem. As future development is partly unpredictable, implementation of some kind of subsequent adjustment could be considered during the process.

Abstract Critical load exceedance is meant by definition as a quantitative measure of a potential risk of damage to ecosystems. Its temporal and spatial development for Polish forest ecosystems was a subject of a national scale study. Within this study critical loads of acidity were calculated and mapped and superimposed with sulphur and nitrogen deposition patterns of the last two decades. The resulting temporal and spatial development of critical load exceedances were subject to an analysis from the view of economic restructuring processes and environmental policy activities undergoing within this time span, historically significant for Poland and other eastern European countries. Calculations showed that deposition in excess of critical loads of acidification gradually increased in the period 1980–1989 while since 1990 a substantial decline was observed with a further downward trend kept to date. The major reason for this rapid decline was the considerable decrease in sulphur and nitrogen emissions observed in this period caused mainly by the transition from a centrally planned to free-market economy. Decline in energy production was the dominant factor controlling the observed emission trends and to a lesser extent by the implementation of effective air pollution abatement measures. Since the mid of 1990s energy production starts gradually to increase whereas the decreasing tendency in sulphur and nitrogen emission from the energy production sector got even intensified towards the year 2003. It might be concluded from this that the reported improvement in air quality in Poland was mainly due to the implementation of national emission reduction strategies well brought in line with the Gothenburg Protocol obligations and the EU directives. In spite of the resulting emission reductions some risk from acidification will remain. Therefore, effort should continue to abate emissions of acidifying pollutants of which nitrogen and specifically ammonia is the most challenging one.

Most of the papers were presented at the EPRI conference on power plant impacts on aquatic resources, Atlanta, GA, USA, 12-15 Apr 1999. A few were presented at an EPRI-EPA Clean Water Act section 316(b) technical issues workshop, Berkeley Springs, WV USA, Sep 1998. The papers covered the assessment and potential impacts of impingement and entrainment of fish and invertebrates in cooling water intake structures. Other subjects included the assessment of aquatic resource impacts associated with power plant thermal and chemical discharges. One paper has been abstracted separately.