Environmental Assessment Techniques Research Articles

A comprehensive assessment framework for the risk and source of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) using two weight of evidence (WOE) approaches in bays of Shandong Province, China

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are one of the most widely distributed typical persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the global environment, and the high PAHs pollution level worldwide calls for the establishment of environmental risk assessment and source analysis techniques for effective control. Here, we selected four bays of Shandong Province, one of the areas in China with the severest emissions of PAHs, as the research area, and chose clam Ruditapes philippinarum as the sentinel species, to systematically assess the ecological risk, bioeffects, and health risks of PAHs, identify their sources, and establish a comprehensive assessment framework for marine POPs using weight of evidence (WOE) approach. Taken together, ecological, bioeffect, and health risk assessments for marine POPs were integrated using Sediqualsoft model of WOE in seawater and sediment, and the overall risk level of PAHs in Shandong coastal area was ‘Moderate’. Meanwhile, the primary source of PAH was analyzed based on socio-economic parameters using a WOE framework, which was mainly derived from traffic and coal in seawater and sediment, respectively. Collectively, a comprehensive framework for assessing risk and source of marine POPs was built for the first time, and it may be applicable to other environments and pollutants.

A review of the effects of environmental hazards on humans, their remediation for sustainable development, and risk assessment.

In the race for economic development and prosperity, our earth is becoming more polluted with each passing day. Technological advances in agriculture and rapid industrialization have drastically polluted the two pillars of natural resources, land and water. Toxic chemicals and microbial contaminants/agents created by natural and anthropogenic activities are rapidly becoming environmental hazards (EH) with increased potential to affect the natural environment and human health. This review has attempted to describe the various agents (chemical, biological, and physical) responsible for environmental contamination, remediation methods, and risk assessment techniques (RA). The main focus is on finding ways to mitigate the harmful effects of EHs through the simultaneous application of remediation methods and RA for sustainable development. It is recommended to apply the combination of different remediation methods using RA techniques to promote recycling and reuse of different resources for sustainable development. The report advocatesfor the development of site-specific, farmer-driven, sequential, and plant-based remediation strategies along with policy support for effective decontamination. This review also focuses on the fact that the lack of knowledge about environmental health is directly related to public health risks and, therefore, focuses on promoting awareness of effective ways to reduce anthropological burden and pollution and on providing valuable data that can be used in environmental monitoring assessments and lead to sustainable development.

Beach responses to coastal structures and their impacts on tourism investment, Sidi Abd El-Rahman coastal zone − Mediterranean Sea, Egypt

Sidi Abd El-Rahman coastal zone is a hub of luxury tourism along the Mediterranean Sea of Egypt. It has several types of coastal structures, such as groins, revetments, jetties, and breakwaters connected to the shore; these structures were constructed to mitigate coastal erosion, recreational activities, and other purposes. The study area has undergone an extensive erosion process since 2016. Therefore, the present study aims to assess shoreline change rates and beach area change over the last 27 years (1995–2022) and their impacts on the tourism investment in Sidi Abd El-Rahman coastal zone. To attain the objectives of the present study, multi-temporal satellite images and Digital Shoreline Analysis System software have been used to detect and quantify shoreline changes. In addition, the most recent tourism real-estate prices were used to estimate the economic loss due to the beach loss. The analysis showed that the Sidi Abd El-Rahman coast can be divided into four zones, according to the intensity of the erosion process. The results showed that the average rate of shoreline displacement is − 0.08 (± 1.5) m/year (mild erosion), 0.24 (± 1.4) m/year (mild accretion), and − 1.3 (± 4.3) m/year (moderate erosion) for the intermediate periods 1995–2005, 2005–2015, and 2015–2022, respectively. The lost beach surfaces dominate those gained by accretion, and the overall sediment budget is negative. The beaches of Marassi Resort are the most eroded spot after building the new marina at the center of this resort. Accordingly, the present study recommends the implementation of soft solutions nourishment scheme for eroded beaches with strict regulations and an awareness program, and in addition, mitigate the impact of the new marina built at Marassi Resort using environmental assessment and coastal modeling techniques or modifying its design concerning the Dubai Palm Island to reduce its impact on adjacent beaches.

Life cycle sustainability assessment of non-beverage bottles made of recycled High Density Polyethylene

The current plastic industry is associated with climate change, fossil fuel depletion and littering of plastic waste. To reduce these environmental impacts, companies and governmental bodies are increasingly adopting strategies based on the concept Circular Economy. However, circular decision-making is usually based on analyses that do not provide enough insights in every sustainability dimension, risking burden-shifting. In this study, environmental, economic and social life cycle assessment (LCA) techniques have been integrated into an overarching sustainability life cycle assessment (LCSA) to assess the impact of recycling High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) non-beverage bottles. The study assesses the impact in 11 environmental categories, the life cycle costs, and the social risks associated with the related economic sectors. An ad-hoc system expansion approach was developed to overcome the multifunctionality issue so commonly challenging in circular systems. The results indicate that using recycled HDPE leads to significant reductions in all the considered environmental categories. The economic analysis indicated that the material cost of recycled HDPE is slightly lower than for virgin HDPE, but the manufacturing costs are higher and highly dependent on the specific value chain. The social risks of recycling were found to be higher than for virgin plastic production, and mainly occurring outside the country where the recycling takes place (The Netherlands). Nevertheless, this analysis presents high uncertainty due to the heterogeneity in the recycling sector of the database. This study shows how the LCSA approach can be used to assess and compare the impacts and benefits of circular strategies and calls for further efforts to develop higher disaggregated social risk databases.

온실가스감축 인지 예산제도에 대한 공법적 소고

This paper focused on how to better evaluate the performance of fiscal execution to solve the problems caused by climate change and ways to improve the system in which the government evaluates and manages financial risk factors in the process of responding to climate change policy. In the process of responding to climate change and realizing carbon neutrality, each country can undergo structural changes despite different fiscal conditions, and it is necessary to solve uncertainties that make it difficult to quantitatively estimate the results and costs of national and local finances. The greenhouse gas reduction recognition prediction and settlement system can be a useful means to check and review from a comprehensive perspective whether there is a conflicting effect in promoting carbon neutrality and green growth goals throughout the tax system and fiscal execution. In a new normal situation where large-scale economic stimulus measures are likely to be continued to build a sustainable society and promote economic recovery after COVID-19, the areas, industrial sectors, and classes are all different, and the degree of damage is diverse. In order to successfully operate the greenhouse gas reduction cognitive budget system newly introduced in the National Finance Act, interdisciplinary research linking environmental engineering, economics, and finance is needed in addition to law. The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Recognition Budget and Fund Management Plan, attached to the budget, should include expected effects, performance goals, and effect analysis of greenhouse gas reduction, and the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Statement and Fund Settlement. On the other hand, adjustment work is needed to apply the environmental impact assessment technique for “large-scale development projects” under the “Environmental Impact Assessment Act” annually to all budget projects, and the actual budgeting and execution process.

Environmental Assessment of Potentially Toxic Elements Using Pollution Indices and Data-Driven Modeling in Surface Sediment of the Littoral Shelf of the Mediterranean Sea Coast and Gamasa Estuary, Egypt

Coastal environmental assessment techniques have evolved into one of the most important fields for the long-term development and management of coastal zones. So, the overall aim of the present investigation was to provide effective approaches for making informed decisions about the Gamasa coast sediment quality. Over a two-year investigation, sediment samples were meticulously collected from the Gamasa estuary and littoral shelf. The inductively coupled plasma mass spectra (ICP-MS) was used to the total concentrations of Al, Fe, Ti, Mg, Mn, Cu, P, V, Ba, Cr, Sr, Co, Ni, Zn, Pb, Zr, and Ce. Single elements environmental pollution indices including the geoaccumulation index (Igeo), contamination factor (CF), and enrichment factor (EF), as well as multi-elements pollution indices comprising the potential ecological risk index (RI), degree of contamination (Dc), and pollution load index (PLI) were used to assess the sediment and the various geo-environmental variables affecting the Mediterranean coastal system. Furthermore, the Dc, PLI, and RI were estimated using the random forest (RF) and Back-Propagation Neural Network (BPNN) depending on the selected elements. According to the Dc results, all the investigated sediment samples categories were considerably contaminated. Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zr, V, Zn, P, and Mn showed remarkable enrichment in sediment samples and were originated from anthropogenic sources based on the CF, EF, and Igeo data. Moreover, the RI findings revealed that all the samples tested pose a low ecologically risk. Meanwhile, based on PLI, 70% of the Gamasa estuary samples were polluted, while 93.75% of littoral shelf sediment was unpolluted. The BPNNs -PCs-CD-17 model performed the best and demonstrated a better association between exceptional qualities and CD. With R2 values of 1.00 for calibration (Cal.) and 1.00 for validation (Val.). The BPNNs -PCs-PLI-17 models performed the best in terms of measuring PLI with respective R2 values of 1.00 and 0.98 for the Cal. and Val. datasets. The findings showed that the RF and BPNN models may be used to precisely quantify the pollution indices (Dc, PLI, and RI) in calibration (Cal.) and validation (Val.) datasets utilizing potentially toxic elements of surface sediment.

Hazardous heavy metals in the pristine lacustrine systems of Antarctica: Insights from PMF model and ERA techniques

A comprehensive study was presented on the ecological risk, distribution, and quantitative source apportionment of heavy metals in the selected lacustrine systems of Schirmacher Hills using various environmental indices and methods. A total of 25 sediment samples from 16 lakes were collected around scientific research stations and analyzed for metals. Geochemical approaches and ecological risk assessment methods were implemented to characterize and evaluate the contamination level and associated risk in the lacustrine systems. Moreover, statistical techniques and a positive matrix factorization (PMF) model were indorsed to understand metals' association and apportion their probable sources. Results revealed that most of the heavy metals (mean concentration in ppm) such as Al (77,504.09), Cd (1.36), Co (29.52), Cr (102.75), Cu (65.19), Fe (57,632.87), Mn (679.05), Ni (49.13), Pb (10.11), and Zn (253.78) are originated from natural weathering of source rocks (78.53%) followed by human-induced actions/ station activities coupled with atmospheric deposition (21.47%). Environmental risk assessment (ERA) techniques suggest that the lakes in the study area are under minimal to moderate enrichment/ contamination category and experienced minimal to adverse biological effects where metal toxicity risk is minimal.

Analysis of environmental risks and accidents at work in urban solid waste collection services

abstract: The heterogeneity and the volume of solid urban waste generated daily cause difficulties in their management, which causes environmental impacts, health and public safety problems. Among all waste management activities, collection is one of the most relevant from an occupational point of view because employees are subject to physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic risks as well as suffering accident. This article aims to instruct companies to apply multidisciplinary management tools that conciliate and serve as a basis for decision making related to environmental and occupational safety management. Therefore, the Ad Hoc Environmental Impact Assessment techniques and the RMT Risk Management Tool were used to identify the environmental impacts generated and the risks to which employees in the urban solid waste collection sector are exposed. It happened through the collection of operational, environmental information and work safety data, in 2017, of companies operating in 7 (seven) municipalities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The Ad Hoc report showed that the environmental aspects of surface water, groundwater, soil, odor and air pollution, generate negative and irreversible environmental impacts. Furthermore, the analysis of accidents at work, the identification of the major agents that cause accidents at work and the nature of injuries, showed their high frequency and severity. In total 60 accidents were recorded and all occurred with garbage collectors. Among these, 13 had as causative agents “glassware, fiberglass, blade, except vial, bottle” and the most recurrent types of injuries were “excoriation and abrasion (superficial wound)” and “by cutting, laceration, blunt wound, puncture (open wound)”, both with 22% of occurrence, which generate work leave. Furthermore, the elaboration of Action Plans and application of the 5W2H Quality Management tool proved to be excellent tools for assessments regarding the minimization of environmental impacts and the control of accidents at work.

Land cover affects microclimate and temperature suitability for arbovirus transmission in an urban landscape.

The emergence of mosquito-transmitted viruses poses a global threat to human health. Combining mechanistic epidemiological models based on temperature-trait relationships with climatological data is a powerful technique for environmental risk assessment. However, a limitation of this approach is that the local microclimates experienced by mosquitoes can differ substantially from macroclimate measurements, particularly in heterogeneous urban environments. To address this scaling mismatch, we modeled spatial variation in microclimate temperatures and the thermal potential for dengue transmission by Aedes albopictus across an urban-to-rural gradient in Athens-Clarke County GA. Microclimate data were collected across gradients of tree cover and impervious surface cover. We developed statistical models to predict daily minimum and maximum microclimate temperatures using coarse-resolution gridded macroclimate data (4000 m) and high-resolution land cover data (30 m). The resulting high-resolution microclimate maps were integrated with temperature-dependent mosquito abundance and vectorial capacity models to generate monthly predictions for the summer and early fall of 2018. The highest vectorial capacities were predicted for patches of trees in urban areas with high cover of impervious surfaces. Vectorial capacity was most sensitive to tree cover during the summer and became more sensitive to impervious surfaces in the early fall. Predictions from the same models using temperature data from a local meteorological station consistently over-predicted vectorial capacity compared to the microclimate-based estimates. This work demonstrates that it is feasible to model variation in mosquito microenvironments across an urban-to-rural gradient using satellite Earth observations. Epidemiological models applied to the microclimate maps revealed localized patterns of temperature suitability for disease transmission that would not be detectable using macroclimate data. Incorporating microclimate data into disease transmission models has the potential to yield more spatially precise and ecologically interpretable metrics of mosquito-borne disease transmission risk in urban landscapes.

English

Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Audit are tools of trade which are available for use by environmental managers around the world. They are applied as early as possible in decision-making throughout the life cycle of proposed development projects and actions that may have potentially significant impacts on biophysical and socio-cultural environments. These instruments provide for individual stakeholder and community participation in screening, scoping, environmental impact identification and evaluation, prior to development of Environmental and Social Management plan. Despite the application of Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Audit techniques in environmental management in Kenya for the past two decades, environmental problems continue to persist as evidenced majorly by incessant flooding, drought conditions, collapsing buildings and dams. There are very high hopes in Kenya for environmental conservation and restoration following the roll out of the Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) which entrenches environmental activities on three strands; the environment and its resources, the social environment and the care of environment. Competence Based Curriculum will produce environmental conscious citizens who will contribute towards making the planetary earth a better place to live in. The paper examines Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Audit practice in Kenya and suggests measures for better environmental management. Key words: Environment, impact, assessment, audit, competence based curriculum.

Advances in Implementing Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Techniques in Central America and the Caribbean

The use of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) systems is essential to ensure the sustainability of plans, programs and policies. This works shows, for the first time in the scientific literature, a joint vision of the current situation of SEA systems in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama and the Dominican Republic. The analysis has been performed using data collected from an exhaustive review of the pre-existing literature and specific information obtained from personal interviews carried out during the SEA forum held in Bogotá in 2018. Legal mechanisms in the Central American and Caribbean region reveal that specific regulation is not necessary to apply and develop SEA systems. Little experience in SEA development in the region is evidenced in the absence of SEA methodologies adapted to the different contexts of policies, plans, programs and governance circumstances. SEA results’ dissemination procedures have been performed only in El Salvador and Costa Rica. Besides, results show that no monitoring mechanisms for the programs implemented under SEA processes have been applied to date. To ensure the future development of SEA processes in the region under sustainable criteria, it is essential to ensure the support of decision makers so that plans and policies can be properly adapted.

A more comprehensive and quantitative approach to corporate sustainability

This study proposes a new quantitative methodology and extendable framework to assess corporate sustainability more comprehensively and to capture interrelationships across the multiple domains of sustainability. A case study from the mining industry is presented to demonstrate the application of this new approach and its ability to extract meaningful insights regarding the company's progress towards sustainability. The comprehensive sustainability target method (CSTM) is a novel extension to an existing environmental burden sustainability assessment technique with additional focus on impacts within and across the societal and social justice domain. CSTM extends sustainability assessment recognizing planetary limits from human activity and relevant societal and community-based targets by formalizing assessment to include social and environmental beneficial impacts, as well as the interdependencies between the economic, environmental and societal domains. Outcomes from the mining industry case study reveal new insights into the sustainability of corporate operations as the comprehensive assessment framework provides a deeper and more extensive evaluation as compared to traditional sustainability assessments and corporate disclosures. In addition to maximal earth carrying capacity estimates for environmental burden targets, this study proposes that companies should assess sustainability for minimal limits applying to social beneficial impacts and maximal limits for social burden impacts. The overall theoretical construct and framework are presented to illustrate the robustness and extendibility of the technique to broadly incorporate various sustainability domains, assessment boundaries, and temporal considerations.

Prognosis evaluation of environmental risks in case of accident on main and technological oil pipelines

The article is devoted to questions of environmental risk assessment. The subject relevance consists in normative introduction of risk assessment requirements for many activity fields connected with danger or result uncertainty. The purpose of the article is ecological damages assessment and environmental risks in case of accident on main and technological oil pipelines. A task of the study is an application possibility consideration of regulatory ecological requirements together with the environmental risks valuation methods accepted now by the oil and gas companies. During a solution of an objective the environmental risks assessment technique was developed for the ecological management systems of the oil and gas companies.

Índice de qualidade para avaliação de áreas verdes públicas

Na ciência geográfica é comum a proposição de procedimentos de análise da qualidade ambiental, estruturados a partir de indicadores ambientais existentes na paisagem, que sejam passíveis de mensuração quali-quantitativa. Assim, o objetivo deste artigo é refletir sobre a sistematização do Índice de Qualidade de Áreas Verdes (IQA) aplicado na área urbana de Presidente Prudente (SP) e destacar a importância da escolha dos indicadores no processo de elaboração do índice. A proposta reflete um esforço metodológico no desenvolvimento de técnicas de avaliação ambiental, mostrando-se viável tanto para a sistematização e padronização de dados primários e secundários quanto para a identificação de padrões de qualidade na escala intraurbana e numa perspectiva espaço-temporal.Palavras-chave: Espaços livres de uso público. Espaço urbano. Indicadores ambientais. Qualidade ambiental.

Develop an Environmental Assessment Technique for Human Comfort Requirements in Buildings

Environmental assessment methods have emerged to assess the environmental performance of buildings across the world. Accurate results obtained using these methods are considered highly important, especially when comparing the environmental performance of buildings creating a fair competition among them. They are used for assessing green buildings regarding issues such as energy, water… etc. The indoor quality is one of these issues and human comfort achieving the identified comfortable ranges by evaluating a number of factors using quantitative measurements, so the current assessing way is considered complex besides the consumption of time and effort without reaching significantly accurate results. Therefore the research problem appears in the lack of an appropriate mean in the current assessment methods to evaluate items linked with sensation and emotions.The research paper aims to propose a more credible and an accurate assessment approach to assess those items, besides psychological comfort. The previous type of comfort rarely appears in current assessment methods despite of being one of the green architecture principles. The 'Kano Model' is the proposed way used for the application of questionnaires that are put through the information network and linked to assessment methods to get more accurate and creditable results when assessing human comfort items.

Economic Valuation of Water in the High Basin of the Lerma River, México

The objective of this paper is to estimate the willingness to pay (DAP) by the inhabitants of the municipality of Almoloya del Rio, state of Mexico in exchange for receiving a quality drinking water service, as well as the generation of actions for the conservation and recovery of bodies of water of the locality. For such purposes, the Contingent Valuation procedure has been used, which is based on the creation of a simulated market through surveys, which is ideal to estimate the economic value of a good that has no market, in this case the water service valued as a scarce and indispensable asset. The work concentrated field phase and the design of econometric models, applied to environmental assessment techniques, the Logit model of the SAS statistical program was used. As a result of the research, a considerably low DAP was obtained, which highlights the Income and Education variables, which were statistically significant.

Integration Techniques for Environmental Impact Assessment of Industrial Pollutants

Integration Techniques for Environmental Impact Assessment of Industrial Pollutants

Integration Techniques for Environmental Impact Assessment of Industrial Pollutants

Integration Techniques for Environmental Impact Assessment of Industrial Pollutants

Analysis and prediction of the spatial distribution of EPT (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera) assemblages in the Han River watershed in Korea

Understanding the relationships between environmental factors and aquatic communities at the large scale is important for conserving freshwater biodiversity and sustaining ecological integrity. In this study, we evaluated the ecological status of the Han River watershed in Korea with the predictive distribution maps for EPT (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera) taxa. From large-scale surveys, environmental and biological data for 360 sites in 189 streams and rivers in the Han River watershed in 2012 and 2013 were analyzed. Based on correlation analysis and stepwise multiple regression analysis, the factors influencing EPT richness were altitude, percent of coarse substrate, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and total phosphorus (TP). DPI (distribution prediction index), indicating the distribution probability of EPT assemblages, was calculated by using a frequency ratio model. This index was high in the mountainous area where altitude and percent of coarse substrate were high, but low in the urbanized area where BOD and TP were high. Verification of the model indicated high reliability of DPIs as demonstrated by the low root-mean-square-error (RMSE) values between the predicted and observed values. This study provides a basis for the sustainable management of stream ecosystems as well as paves the way for future studies such as those on environmental assessment techniques using aquatic insect communities.

Study on integration techniques for Environmental Impact Assessment of different media based standard industrial classification: A case study of South Korea

Integrated techniques allow calculating the impact of individual pollutants forced on the environment and human health. It is quite difficult to manage and legalize the individual pollutant. Despite various efforts made so far for the effective environmental management, there exists a big challenge for implementing the policy and legislation to meet required standard for safe environment and health. Therefore, recently the integrated management of both medium based (water and air) pollutants has been conceptualized. Hence, this study focuses to compare the current practices of levy enforcement system to the integrated pollutants management system based on the real force of pollutants to the environment and human health.Total environmental performance score (EPS) with highest penalty is found to be 9,873,809,093 (46.59%) for facility categories with Code 51 (Coal Mining), the topmost rank with highest score among total facilities. Eleven industrial categories out of 88 have similar EPS with traditional practices while rest 77 have a dissimilar score. Thirty-three industrial categories rank higher in current levy enforcement than EPS penalty and 44 industrial categories have higher levy than EPS penalty. The existing compliance of legal charge based on simple sum of pollution (SSP) by volume rather than their degree of impact on environment is not scientific. Merely the volume cannot sufficiently reflect the real impact of pollutants. Thus, the enforcement should be amended as per the EPS penalty of pollutants. Hence, this study recommends for the revision of existing policy of legal levy system (LLS) based on IEPS penalty to regulate the equitable enforcement system for the pollutants as a whole.