Managing the solid wastes improperly or without sustainability concept will inevitably result in low-grade environmental hygiene and public health, comprising explosion of infectious diseases like malaria, cholera, typhoid/paratyphoid fever, etc. However, managing solid wastes in a sustainable way can reduce both amount of solid wastes and solid waste separation practices. Within this scope, this study concentrates on the establishment of a new sustainable solid waste disposal facility in Türkiye's Mediterranean Region via two effective Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods. For this aim, nine criteria; including cost, closeness to residential areas, land slope, environmental risks (e.g., earthquake risk and closeness to water), and public acceptance are utilized through expert evaluations and relevant literature. The most appropriate location is analysed through Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and Evaluation based on Distance from Average Solution (EDAS). Both methods consistently determined Yeşilyurt Neighborhood in Seyhan District (A₁) as the most suitable location for the new solid waste disposal facility. The sensitivity analysis confirmed the robustness of the findings, demonstrating that A₁ remained the top-ranked alternative under various criteria weights. It is expected that the results obtained will guide the decision makers in this area.

The field of spatial planning uses digital technologies as support for planning and decision-making activities. Recently, artificial intelligence technologies started to be used also in green infrastructure planning to allow better decisions and to find solutions to mitigate climate changes especially in urban areas. Optimization algorithms are used to plan green infrastructure at all scales, from the level of a tree to residential and other urban green and natural spaces. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to outline the necessity of implementing AI technology in urban areas to improve the life of inhabitants and to increase the sustainability of the city. Besides optimization algorithms as AI tools, the study presents a large range of tools that can be used in the management of urban green infrastructure. In the urban context, these new technologies that can be connected to the nature of the city in the form of a digital network containing collected information from different sources. The conclusion is that the digital progress must include the nature of the city. The research comes in the context of the opportunity to plan green belts around Romanian cities and finding their optimal locations using the new digital technologies.

Climate change leads to the modification of the climatic conditions that have defined the specific of Romania wine regions. Using a GIS based methodology for evaluating the viticultural potential of geographical areas, this research reveals: the geographical distribution in Romania of the areas that acquired viticulture potential during the 1991-2013 time period; the possibilities of exploiting these areas in relation to the current land use; the grape varieties that could be grown and the types of wine that could be produced in these areas. According to the results of this research, during the 1991-2013 time period the total area with viticulture potential is, at Romanian level, with 25,245 km2 larger than during the 1961-1990 time period. The areas that acquired viticultural potential are mostly located in the northern half of Romania and at altitudes exceeding 550 m asl. Analyzed in relation to the type of current land use, from the area that has acquired viticultural potential, 11,408 km2 are excluded from the possibility of viticultural use, being occupied by forests, water bodies and industrial and residential constructions. The difference of 13,837 km2 corresponds to agricultural lands of which 8,700 km2 could be exploited through viticulture if this would be considered by land owners a more economically efficient alternative of capitalizing on them.

Background: an assessment of the environmental consequences of military actions was carried out from the perspective of the challenge to the peace formula. Methods: the information base of the research was the official resource of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine “EkoZahroza” and the materials of the State Environmental Inspectorate of the Polissia District regarding the calculations of the amount of damage caused by military actions. Results: it was determined that as of the 526th day of the military invasion (September 3, 2023), 34,119 units of Russian equipment caused the emission of 61,417 tons of pollutants into the atmosphere, the generation of 596,316 tons of waste, the spillage of oil products - 1,241 tons into the soil and 7 tons into the water. caused damage to the environment in the amount of 260.77 million UAH. The conducted surveys established that 93.8% of the surveyed schoolchildren and 100% of higher education students consider military actions on the territory of our state to be environmental crimes, among the components of the environment that suffer the most from military actions are soil and land resources and forest ecosystems. Conclusions: compared to the 127th day of the military invasion, the amount of destroyed military equipment increased by 6.9 times, emissions by 3.8 times, and waste by 6 times; losses - 3.8 times. There is an obvious need to assess all environmental risks caused by military actions, to apply an effective mechanism for compensation for damages and restoration of ecosystems. The optimistic attitude of the younger generation and youth regarding the possibility of improving the environmental situation in Ukraine after the end of military actions was noted. Measures to improve the state of the environment that were proposed by students testify to their environmental awareness and interest in environmental restoration, as well as the qualified training of ecologists by scientific and pedagogical workers.

The energy consumption has become a real concern in choosing the most cost- effective way and resources for indoor-heating. This experimental study tried to estimate both the energy amounts needed to heat up the residential indoor spaces and the resulting average costs that people living in the Bucharest Metropolitan Area might have to pay for heating during the winter months. The daily minimum air-temperatures, incoming solar radiation and wind- speed values provided by the Bucharest-Băneasa weather station were used to calculate the corresponding mean monthly values of an expressive compound index for December, January and February, over the 1980-2015 period. In this respect, the Cooling Energy Consumption (CEC) index has been calculated. Then, its values were related to two different types of individual heating systems (CT): a conventional CT produced by Ariston (net efficiency of 93%) and a gaseous condensation CT produced by Viessmann (net efficiency of 108%). Finally, the results were multiplied by the actual unit cost of energy in Romania (1.3 lei/kWh), provided that the total monthly consumption of electricity per household keeps less than 300 kWh/month, so that some interesting and realistic estimates of heating expenditures could be obtained for either each or all winter months in Bucharest – Romania’s capital city. This method might be useful both to local authorities and inhabitants to estimate and plan in advance their public or domestic budget to more economically sustain their energy resources and expenditures.

This paper aims to investigate the environmental impact of uncontrolled urban sprawl on the peri-urban Fagetul Clujului wooded area. This area is a partially conserved peri-urban forest and a ROSCI Natura 2000, located in the southwestern part of Cluj-Napoca Municipality in Romania. To assess the environmental impact, a standardized checklist based on national regulations and a modified rapid impact assessment matrix (RIAM) were used to obtain environmental scores for 30 key points in the area. The QGIS and IDW (Inverse Distance Weighting) methods were used to combine the main assessment scores to create a general impact map. The assessment outcomes confirm that there are significant negative impacts on environmental components in this peri-urban wooded area, such as abiotic and biotic components, in those peripheral areas that are recently built, developed, or expanding. This study provides an effective, transparent, and integrated methodology for assessing the impact of uncontrolled urban sprawl on the environment. It can help local decision-makers and experts in designing and developing sustainable strategies for environmental management and urban planning.

This study explores the emerging path toward sustainability reporting and the under- lying assumption that digitalization as a roof over all other factors (governance, economic, environmental, social, and/or national culture) might support countries in enhancing sustainability reporting. It approaches the newsworthiness of the topic by grounding on a combination of stakeholders and resilience theory from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. The research design relies on simple OLS regression and additional robustness and heterogeneity tests that ensure the reliability and trustworthiness of the results. The findings reveal that countries that widely adopted digital technologies also enhanced their sustainability reporting. These countries exhibit as well environmental health and ecosystem vitality and perform well in their economic progress. Sub-sample analysis reveals that digitalization was not an enhancer of sustainability reporting practices for advanced countries but was a significant driver for emerging ones.

This paper aims to develop a model for assessing the conservation state of monuments and cultural heritage sites, assisting local decision-makers in prioritizing conservation, preservation, and management actions. The research focuses on religious monuments in the Moldavian Plain from Romania using multi-criteria analyses to evaluate risks from natural factors, socio-demographic elements, and economic development. The used methods aim to standardize the level of natural and anthropogenic risk for religious cultural heritage in the counties of Botoșani and Iasi through quantitative and qualitative approaches. For the digitization of monument churches, data from the official list of historical monuments, topographic maps and aerial photographs were combined. A tabular database was created, integrating various risk indicators, with scores from 1 to 5, to obtain a total risk score for each monument. The study integrates both natural and human geographical parameters into a Geographic Information System (GIS) to create a pre-assessment risk model based on existing data. This model could serve as a tool for decision-makers and specialists to identify the most vulnerable sites, optimize expenses, and prioritize actions, ultimately saving time and resources. This work was co-funded by the European Social Fund, through Operational Programme Human Capital 2014-2020, project number OCU/993/6/13/153322, project title” Educational and training support for Ph.D. students and young researchers in preparation for insertion into the labor market”.

This study examines the impact of new climatic normals (1991–2020 vs. 1961–1990) on bioclimatic indices in Oradea, Romania, highlighting the dynamic relationship between climatic variability and bioclimatic stress. The research focuses on three key indices: Effective-Equivalent Temperature (EET), Temperature-Humidity Index (THI), and Wind Chill Index (WCI), selected for their relevance in reflecting bioclimatic discomfort and risk. The results reveal a gradual increase in air temperatures (+0.91°C annually), with more pronounced warming during summer (+1.33°C to +1.64°C) and winter (+2.29°C in January). These changes influence bioclimatic perceptions, with THI-min values shifting from "cold" to "cool" in summer months and THI-max in August evolving from "warm" to "very warm." The study identifies significant trends: the frequency of extreme maximum bioclimatic values has increased, while extreme minimum values have decreased, reflecting intensified heat stress. While WCI and WCET show relative stability due to wind's moderating effect, their influence diminishes, leading to increased thermal stress. Future projections suggest that bioclimatic trends will continue to rise, with THI values potentially aligning with mean air temperatures by 2118, indicating a stronger bioclimatic impact of warming. This research emphasises the necessity of addressing these changes in regional planning and public health strategies. It also highlights the broader implications for other Romanian regions, where temperature increases are more significant, and stresses the importance of further studies to assess bioclimatic impacts nationwide.

This paper investigates the interplay between economic growth and environmental degradation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from 1990 to 2020. Despite extensive research on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), the applicability of this hypothesis remains non-generalisable, influenced by various factors such as the level of economic development, research methodologies, and researchers' understanding of the topic. Utilising the Phillips-Perron (PP) and Zivot-Andrews (ZA) unit root tests for stationarity, and Pesaran's cointegration test for long-term dynamics, this study applied the ARDL (Autoregressive Distributed Lag) model to series integrated of order I(0) and I(1). Findings confirm the presence of the EKC and a unidirectional causal relationship between GDP and CO2 emissions in the DRC. These results highlight the significance of wealth creation for sustainable development in the country.