Environmental Protection Strategy Research Articles

Philately’s Implications in Ecological Education via Romanian Thematic Joint Issues (II): Collaboration with United Nations Post Office

The natural heritage, in line with current sustainable development policies and strategies, is defined and accepted as the set of physico-geographic and biocenotic components and structures of the natural environment, who’s biogenic, ecological, economic, scientific, sanogenic, landscape, re-creational and cultural-historic value has a relevant significance, not just for the present generations, especially for the future generations. Protected areas, as an integral part of natural heritage, by their intrinsic value and low human intervention degree, are by far, the best examples and models for natural and semi-natural ecological systems. Protected areas are still perceived by many individuals, only in their conservationist sense, being considered true wild nature oasis, which need protection only for conservation of different unique species that populate them. Little is known about the fact that natural and semi-natural regime areas constitute livelihood support and decisively contribute to social and economical development. Constantly promoting philatelic themes, among others, that address the natural heritage, Romfilatelia - as a promoter of environmental protection policies and strategies, performs a series of postage issues - most of them in the last period - in whose pictures we also observed the Romanian preoccupations for natural heritage protection over the time. In the present paper we propose a very short introduction into the history of Romanian preoccupations for natural heritage protection, and bring into limelight the significant concerns in promoting ecological educational via thematic joint issues (in this case, United Nations Post Office). In this context, the main objective of the sudy was to identify, index and describe the main Romanian philatelic pieces issued (for example - postal stamps, First Day Covers, maxicards, occasional envelopes and other postal circulations), from the beginning of issuing in this field.

Multi-objective optimal allocation strategy for the energy internet in Huangpu District, Guangzhou, China

To improve the overall efficiency of the energy system, the basic structure for the energy internet of coordination and optimization of “generation-grid-load-storage” of Huangpu District, Guangzhou, China is designed, while the arrangement for the output of centralized and distributed energy module and energy storage are proposed. Taking economic benefit maximization, environmental benefit maximization and energy efficiency maximization as sub-objectives, the mathematical model of multi-objective optimal allocation and operation strategy of the energy internet is established considering supply-demand balance constraints, equipment characteristic constraints, operation mode constraints, and energy conditions constraints. The calculation results show that without considering the outsourced electricity, the balanced strategy, the economic development strategy, the environmental protection strategy, and the energy efficiency strategy are obtained by calculation, which are all superior to the traditional energy supply strategy. Moreover, considering the outsourced electricity, the proportion of outsourced electricity to total electricity is 19.8%, which is the system optimization of the energy internet under certain power demand. Compared with other strategies without outsourced electricity, the outsourced electricity strategy can have a certain emission reduction effect, but at the same time reduce the economic benefit. Furthermore, the huge difference in demand for thermal and cooling load between industrial and commercial areas results in the installed capacity of gas distributed energy stations in industrial areas being nearly twice as large as that in commercial areas. The distributed photovoltaic power generation is allocated according to the proportion of the installed roof areas of photovoltaic power generation system in residential, industrial, and commercial areas.

Spatial and temporal variations of PAHs in surface sediments of estuarine and coast of CanGio wetland, Vietnam.

Surface sediments from estuarine and coast of CanGio wetland (CGW) of Hochiminh City, Vietnam, were investigated to identify the spatial and temporal variations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The total PAHs showed wide variation but similar to patterns observed (F = 0.901, p = 0.46) in LongTau (31 ± 77ng/g dry weight, n = 13), SoaiRap (53 ± 81, n = 4), ThiVai (60 ± 62, n = 10) estuaries, and coastal areas (112 ± 211, n = 9). A decreasing trend in the wet season (F = 8.8, p = 0.01) reflected that inland sources such as wastewater discharged and atmospherically transported contaminants contributed to PAHs in sediments. The risk posed by the PAHs in the coastal and estuarine areas of CGW is still negligible. The present study provides baseline data, which can be used for regular monitoring and future strategy of environmental protection for the study area.

Circular economy in the pig farming chain: Proposing a model for measurement

Circular Economy involves strategies for sustainable development, environmental protection, clean production, ecological consumption, waste regeneration and reuse, aligning social equity, environmental quality and economic well-being. The present research aimed to propose a model for measuring the circular economy in the pig farming chain. To that end, a systematic review was performed, which addressed the study of specific situations related to the interaction between the circular economy and the management of pig waste. The proposal was based on the assessment and correlation of GRI indicators with the aspects of pig farming chain present in the researched literature. A statistical model was developed using the Spearman’s correlation analysis. It was identified 35 correlations, and the questions from the social dimension presented the highest correlation indices, with a representativeness of 82.86% of interaction. It was not found in the existing literature a model for measuring the circular economy that considered several aspects (environmental, economic and social) simultaneously. With regard to the characteristics of the circular economy in the pig farming chain, the proposed model could facilitate decision making on the environmental and social aspects, as well as regarding property costs, thus contributing to environmental preservation and to the practice of circular economy.

Spatial Zoning Strategy for Socio-Economic Development and Environmental Protection in Cu Chi District, Hochiminh City

Cu Chi, with a natural area of 43,496ha, is a district in the northeast of Hochiminh City, where infrastructure has been built intensively and rapidly in recent years. This development results in not only general socio-economic conditions but also the improvement of local welfare. On the other hand, relentless urban and industrial development in Cu Chi District may potentially pose negative impact on general environmental condition due to reduction of green area and industrial waste discharge to the natural ecology. As a consequence, spatial planning and zoning are necessary to balance socio-economic progress and environmental protection for sustainable development. By analyzing the socio-economic, environment and remote sensing data using GIS technology, the research divides the district into 3 major environment zones, including 13 minor sub-zones. Meanwhile, the result also suggests 04 integrated socio-economic development and environmental protection zones as follows: environmental protection with 2 sub-zones (2,286 ha), environmental friendly development with 6 sub-zones (27,753 ha), strengthened environmental management with 4 sub-zones (8,370 ha) and environmental recovery and rehabilitation with 1 sub-zone (5,087 ha). The authors believe that the spatial zoning is important in providing the basis to develop a strategy for socio-economic development and environmental protection for each sub-zone.

Community structure and function of cultivable Endophytic Bacteria isolated from four Moss species in Qilian Mountain

Mosses inhabiting alpine regions play a vital role in maintaining the stability of their environments. Despite their possible importance, the cultivatable endophytes of mosses in alpine regions have not been widely examined. The community structure of cultivatable endophytes from four species of mosses, Thuidium cymbifolium, Cirriphyllum cirrosum, Tortella tortuosa and Tortula reflexa, was assessed using 16S rRNA sequencing. The plant growth-promoting traits of all isolates were evaluated by measuring nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, plant hormone (indoleacetic acid) production, and antifungal activity. Overall, 36 endophyte strains of bacteria were isolated from the 4 species of mosses from the Qilian Mountains in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and were found to belong to 4 phyla, 11 genera, and 20 species. The dominant phyla were Proteobacteria (63.9%). Of the isolates, 53% belonged to Pseudomonas. The cultured bacteria from the mosses differed in their growth-promoting traits. This is the first report on the diversity of culturable endophytic bacteria in mosses from high-altitude cold regions. These plant growth-promoting bacteria might have applications in agriculture or be of value in strategies for environmental protection in alpine regions.

Modelling and Optimisation of Vacuum Collection System for Cruise Ship Kitchen Garbage

Abstract Pollution of the marine environment by ship garbage is an urgent problem to be solved at home and abroad. The ship kitchen garbage vacuum collection system is a new environmental protection scheme for garbage disposal. It has many advantages, such as using a pipeline instead of manual operation, creating high-level sanitary conditions, realising completely closed garbage collection and transportation, eliminating cross-pollution, saving space and so on. In this paper, the system is modelled, and the calculation of pipeline pressure loss, the vacuum degree of the vacuum tank and the energy consumption of the system are briefly introduced. In order to reduce the energy consumption, an algorithm for the emptying and discharging port is presented. In order to solve the problem of optimising relevant parameters, the vacuum transport mechanism of garbage is studied based on an optimisation model of the pipe network, and the experimental platform of a simulation device is set up. In engineering, this is of great significance to the design of cruise ship garbage collection and treatment systems and the development of supporting technology.

A települési önkormányzatok szerepe a környezetvédelmi igazgatás átalakult rendszerében


 
 
 
 Napjainkban általánosan elfogadott, hogy nélkülözhetetlen a környezettel való tudatos, felelősségteljes bánásmód. Korunk államainak működését egyre inkább új dimenzióba helyezi a legtágabb értelemben felfogott globalizáció jelensége. A globalizálódó és digitalizálódó világ sajátosságai, így egyebek mellett a (kiber)terrorizmus fenyegető jelenléte, a munkanélküliség vagy éppen a járványok terjedése, a migrációs folyamatok tömegessé válása vagy az országokon átívelő környezetszennyezések olyan új világot körvonalaznak, amelyben egymagában sem az állam, sem az egyén, sem a társadalom nem tud eredményesen fellépni. Mindezek alapján a környezetvédelem területén is a komplexitás és a pluralitás szükségessége fogalmazódik meg az egyes államok szintjén, a jelzett tendenciák közepette az állam környezetvédelmi fellépésének figyelemmel kísérése és folyamatos fejlesztése pedig szükségszerű.
 
 
 

Forest Transition and Its Driving Forces in the Qian-Gui Karst Mountainous Areas

This study investigates the spatial differences and the factors influencing those differences as they affect forest transitions in the Qian-Gui Karst Mountain areas to provide references for policy makers, and ideas for ecological environmental protection strategies and adaptive management strategies for forest restoration projects in mountain areas. Forest transition characteristics are determined in relationship to spatial and functional transitions. SPSS and a geographical detector are used to analyze the forces driving forest transitions in terms of natural environmental and socio-economic factors. The results were as follows: (1) The area of forestland in the Qian-Gui Karst Mountain areas increased by 673.5 km2 during 1990–2015, and a U-shaped curve generally describes the tendency of this change. More precisely, forest land area decreased initially and increased later, with the turning point occurring in the year 2000. This suggests that the Qian-Gui Karst Mountain areas are being maintained at a later stage of forest transition, and this means they are experiencing a net increase in forest land area. The average annual rainfall and temperature, distance to the nearest river and nearest rural residential area, amplitude of topographical relief, and slope contributed the most to forest spatial transitions. (2) During the study period, the tendency for forest coverage to change varied considerably in different parts of the study area, and the greatest increase occurred in the area of very high forest coverage, an area of 154173.71 km2. The ranking of other forest coverages tended to decrease during the past 25 years. The vegetation ecosystem, in general, is being maintained in the process of restoration, and changes in the ranking of forest coverage were high in the northern part of the study area and low in the southern part. Forest spatial transitions were affected by the interaction between natural environmental and socio-economic factors, and the average annual temperature and rainfall, elevation, and lighting intensity at night were the most important factors that governed forest functional transitions. An examination of the direction in which spatial and functional transitions are moving in the forest area indicates that ecological construction, rather than spatial expansion of the forest area, should be used in the future to improve forest quality.

Ecological red line zoning of the Tibet Autonomous Region based on ecosystem services and ecological sensitivity

The ecological red line (ERL) has become a national strategy of environmental protection in China. The ERL of Tibet should be possible to find a balance between conserving environment and the deman...

Assessing the Role of Non-governmental Organization in Promoting Education in Hidhabu Abote District the Case of World Vision Ethiopia

Non-governmental organizations /NGOs/ as LED actors contribute to the promotion of education in developing countries. The collaboration and networking Promoting education between NGOs, the government organs and other actors were not often assessed scientifically. The objective of this study is to assess the role of NGOs in the Education sector in Hidhabu Abote District, the Case of World Vision Ethiopia. To finalize it, the research method employed was descriptive survey study. Survey questionnaire was used to gather the relevant quantitative data. The qualitative data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, focus group discussion and personal observations. The collected data were descriptively analyzed. WVE, is contributing in education programs, child sponsorship and in the areas of WASH and livelihoods. It also involves environmental protection strategies but not with good results. The study concludes with the recommendation that substantive networking and collaboration is needed between the NGOs and local/Woreda government on one hand and awareness creation of education for the community on the other hand.

Environmental efficiency evaluation of China's iron and steel industry: A process-level data envelopment analysis

To resolve the increasingly higher energy and environmental pressures, the evaluation of environmental efficiency in China's iron and steel industry is essential for identifying a precise energy conservation and emission reduction path. However, current studies have only focused on the efficiency evaluation in national, regional, or enterprise level, lacking the analysis of different processes. Therefore, the objective of this research is to conduct a process-level data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate the environmental efficiency of China's iron and steel industry. Totally, 54 enterprises are contained, as the input-output structure of 5 processes: sintering, coking, ironmaking, steelmaking, and steel rolling are set specifically in this study. In addition, to compare the effects to the efficiency results of different DEA methods, Banker, Charnes & Cooper (BCC) model, Slack-based Measure (SBM) model, and Bootstrap-DEA methods are adopted. Finally, a regression model is used to investigate the key environmental protection strategies influencing the environmental efficiency. The results show that: (1) Within different methods, the average efficiency scores from SBM model are lower than the ones from BCC model, and the Bootstrap-DEA method also has a negative modification. (2) Regional efficiency difference exists, as the enterprises in South China perform best in sintering and coking processes but have the lowest overall efficiency scores. (3) Most enterprises have one or more short board processes. 12 enterprises are the enterprises with individual low environmental efficiency process, while other 25 are the enterprises with imbalanced environmental performances. (4) The coefficient factor between environmental protection investment and the efficiency scores are positive, but the factors of proportion of environmental protection staffs, and whether the enterprise has environmental protection research are negative. In sum, this study is hoped to contribute to formulating more precise environmental management measures in China's iron and steel industry.

Strategic Directions of Environmental Management in the Region

In the article the author scientifically justified the choice of strategic directions of environmental activities in the region, which provide the formation of a real trend of gradual improvement of the environmental situation.
 The author uses a variety of methodological tools. The tools include methods of analysis, generalization, design, statistical methods.
 Aggravation of environmental problems requires regionalization of environmental policy, regulation and management of natural resources in the long term. Currently, the need to develop an effective strategy for environmental protection in the region is being actualized. Environmental consequences of economic activity arise and manifest themselves in a particular area. The local nature of anthropogenic impact on the processes of reproduction of natural resources and the state of the environment require the search for ways to effectively solve environmental problems, taking into account the characteristics of natural factors and conditions of the territory. It is necessary to analyze the specifics of the production and spatial structure of the regional production complex. The development of the environmental strategy provides for the definition of the environmental mission of the region and its ecological image of the future. When developing the strategy, priority environmental goals and objectives are selected. These tasks are then detailed in specific environmental programs. Further, the mechanism of their implementation is developed, the analysis and evaluation of the results and consequences of the implementation of programs are carried out. At the same time, the ecological mission of the region and its ecological image of the future are based on the analysis of internal and external factors that affect the formation of the ecological situation in the region. Further opportunities and threats for ensuring ecological safety of development of regional economy and habitat of people are revealed. The authors consider the regional environmental program as the main tool for planning, forecasting and practical implementation of regional environmental policy. The regional environmental programme facilitates the coordination of environmental activities in the region. Regional programs are developed within the framework of long-term forecasting and include strategic interests of Ukraine.
 The conditions of implementation of the environmental strategy in the region and the problems of creating economic tools to stimulate environmental protection measures, modern legal support of environmental policy are analyzed. The authors identify the features of financing environmental activities in Ukraine and explore innovative aspects of environmental safety of the national economy.
 The researchers revealed the place of the ecological subsystem in the structure of programs of socio-economic development of the region, analyzed the basic methodological and methodical bases of formation of the strategy of environmental protection in the region. The authors scientifically justified the choice of strategic directions of environmental activities in the region, which provide the formation of a real trend of gradual improvement of the environmental situation. The recommendations on improving the management mechanism of the regional ecological and economic system are substantiated.

A 3D-hydrodynamic model for predicting the environmental fate of chemical pollutants in Xiamen Bay, southeast China

Simulation model is very essential for predicting the environmental fate and the potential environmental consequences of chemical pollutants including those from accidental chemical spills. However very few of such simulation model is seen related to Chinese costal water body. As the first step toward our final goal to develop a simulation model for the prediction and the risk assessment of chemical pollutants in Chinese coastal water, this study developed a three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamic model of Xiamen Bay (XMB). This hydrodynamic model was externally derived by meteorological data, river discharge and boundary conditions of XMB. We used the model to calculate the physical factors, especially water temperature, salinity and flow field, from June to September 2016 in XMB. The results demonstrated a good match between observations and simulations, which underscores the feasibility of this model in predicting the spatial-temporal concentration of chemical pollutants in the coastal water of XMB. Longitudinal salinity distributions and the mixing profile of river-sea interactions are discussed, including the obvious gradation of salinity from the river towards sea sites shown by the model. We further assumed that 1000 kg and 1000 mg/L of a virtual chemical pollutant leaked out from Jiulong River (JR) estuary (point source) and whole XMB (non-point source), respectively. The model illustrates that it takes three months for XMB to become purified when point source pollution occurs in the estuary, while half a year to be required in the case of non-point source pollution across the entire bay. Moreover, the model indicated that pollutants can easily accumulate in the western coastal zone and narrow waters like Maluan Bay, which can guide environmental protection strategies.

Research on Optimization of Environmental Protection Scheme of Retirement Housing from the Concept of Ecological Design

With the tide of aging sweeping the world, home-based care for the aged due to its unique advantages was replacing hospitals and institutions as the main and realistic choice for the elderly. For the increasing requirements of old-age care life, the concept of ecological design adhered to the characteristics of “removable, maintained, recycled and repeated”, which was rising to the basic principle of environmental protection design for residential old-age care and also an important measure to solve the problem of old-age care. This article would reflect the ecological design concept from environmental protection decoration, sound, light, water, garbage, heat and other environmental aspects to optimize the environmental protection scheme for the elderly housing, which helped enhance the “sense of acquisition” of the elderly.

Popular Coastal Environment Issues and Orientation for Solutions in Vietnam

The process of interaction and exchange of material between continents and oceans in coastal areas (DVB) creates a dynamic balance on environment, ecology and natural resource structure. Due to anthropogenic impacts and climate change, this balance is disrupted and leads to many negative consequences. The coastal area of ??Vietnam is located in the monsoon tropical region where large rivers with basins in six countries enter and the outer sea has ecological and environmental relations with the waters of many countries in the region. This is a very sensitive area and ecosystems, especially coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass beds, etc. very vulnerable to environmental impacts. Along with economic development and population growth, humanitarian activities have a major impact on the coastal environment. People, environment and coastal ecosystems are also affected by abnormal climatic and hydrological changes that have recently increased. Not to mention the risk of natural disasters, including volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis, has not been fully assessed. Environmental stresses and coastal catastrophes are generated not only locally but also from continents and oceans. Therefore, the strategy for coastal environmental protection needs to be viewed from the macro-relations of the continental-ocean interaction in the coastal region.

Popular Coastal Environment Issues and Orientation for Solutions in Vietnam

The process of interaction and exchange of material between continents and oceans in coastal areas (DVB) creates a dynamic balance on environment, ecology and natural resource structure. Due to anthropogenic impacts and climate change, this balance is disrupted and leads to many negative consequences. The coastal area of ​​Vietnam is located in the monsoon tropical region where large rivers with basins in six countries enter and the outer sea has ecological and environmental relations with the waters of many countries in the region. This is a very sensitive area and ecosystems, especially coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass beds, etc. very vulnerable to environmental impacts. Along with economic development and population growth, humanitarian activities have a major impact on the coastal environment. People, environment and coastal ecosystems are also affected by abnormal climatic and hydrological changes that have recently increased. Not to mention the risk of natural disasters, including volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis, has not been fully assessed. Environmental stresses and coastal catastrophes are generated not only locally but also from continents and oceans. Therefore, the strategy for coastal environmental protection needs to be viewed from the macro-relations of the continental-ocean interaction in the coastal region.

Analysis of the environmental efficiency in China based on the DEA cross‐efficiency approach under different policy objectives

AbstractThe existing studies on environmental efficiency evaluation generally have the problem of efficiency overestimation. To solve this problem, a new data envelopment analysis (DEA) cross‐efficiency approach with undesirable outputs is developed to evaluate environmental efficiency from the perspectives of both self‐evaluation and peer evaluation. Then, three new evaluation strategies, namely, economic development strategy, environmental protection strategy, and win–win strategy, are proposed to reflect the needs of decision makers under different policy objectives. The proposed cross‐efficiency approach with different evaluation strategies not only realizes the cross evaluation of environmental efficiency, but also guarantees the relative uniqueness of the optimal solution on the basis of the preferences of decision makers. Combining the metafrontier DEA approach and DEA window analysis, a new cross‐efficiency analytical framework is constructed to gradually analyse the influences of policy objectives, technology heterogeneity, and dynamic correlation on the environmental efficiency. Subsequently, the environmental efficiency of China's economic development during 2006–2015 is in‐depth analysed on the basis of the proposed analytical framework, and some interesting conclusions, and some useful suggestions are obtained.

Distribution, contamination and source identification of heavy metals in bed sediments from the lower reaches of the Xiangjiang River in Hunan province, China

Concentrations of heavy metals Ba, Sc, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Th, U, Cu, Pb, Zn, and Cd in sediments from the lower reaches of the Xiangjiang River were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The results suggest that there are two metal distribution patterns in these sediments: (1) Ba, Sc, V, Cr, Mn, Th, and U are relatively homogeneously distributed and (2) Cd, Pb, Zn Cu, Co and Ni are heterogeneously distributed. The heterogeneously distributed metals are significantly enriched in these sediments and, thereby, contribute to contamination. Assessments of heavy metal contamination using the Geoaccumulation index, Pollution load index, and potential ecological risk index suggest that the levels of contamination from Cd and Mn are extremely high and moderately high, respectively, in all the sediments from the lower river. In comparison, the levels of contamination by Cu, Zn, and Pb varied spatially, decreasing progressively downriver. The level of contamination by Pb, Zn, and Cu in sediments from the Zhuzhou reach is extremely high, and is moderate to significant high for the Xiangtan, Changsha, and Xiangyin reaches. The ecological potential risks posed heavy metals are ranked, in descending order, as Cd > Pb > Cu > Zn > Cr > Ni > Co > Mn for sediments from the Zhuzhou reach and Cd > Pb > Cu > Ni > Cr > Co > Zn > Mn for sediments from the Xiangtan, Changsha, and Xiangyin reaches. Principal component analysis and enrichment factor calculations suggest that Ba, Sc, V, Cr, Th, and U mostly originate from natural processes. While, Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu, Co, Ni, and Mn are derived from both natural processes and anthropogenic activities. Therefore, strategies for environmental protection in this watershed should focus on contamination by Cd, Pb, Zn, and Cu, with Cd requiring particular attention.

EIA (ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT) AS A MECHANISM FOR ENSURING ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY

In modern conditions, the interaction of society and nature is often manifested in the emergence, reconstruction, modernization of various types of economic objects, which is necessarily accompanied by a change in parameters, qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the environment. The magnitude and mass character of such transformations cause environmental implications in accordance with the presumption of the negative impact of economic objects of various degrees of adversity. The latter, with an impressive rate, have transformed socio-economic growth into a category with significant negative anthropogenic factors, limiting or minimizing which is the key to the effective survival of mankind. A profound understanding of this fact contributed to the emergence of many environmental protection strategies and concepts that proposed various ways of harmonizing the interaction of society and nature. However, a small fraction of them was of a preventive nature. Among the ways, methods, mechanisms that would ensure an environmentally safe environment, preventing negative environmental implications were environmental assessment, environmental expertise, strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment. Being genetically interrelated, they became an effective means of environmental policy at the level of regions or countries.The publication analyzes the latest legislation that regulates the sequence and the procedure of conducting environmental impact assessment as a tool for identifying all possible environmental implications of the planned activities. The organizational and legal aspects of implementation of separate stages in the procedure of environmental impact assessment are specified. The ways of realization of interaction of subjects of environmental impact assessment with the aim of preventing environmental harm, ensuring environmental safety, environmental protection, rational use and reproduction of natural resources, in the process of making decisions on conducting economic activity, which can have a significant impact on the environment, are highlighted. Considerable attention is paid to the means of realization by the public of their right to make comments in the process of public discussion of the planned activities in the procedure of environmental impact assessment as a basis for taking into account the interests of the community.