Environmental Research Agenda Research Articles

Evaluating environmental change and behavioral decision-making for sustainability policy using an agent-based model: A case study for the Smoky Hill River Watershed, Kansas

Sustainability has been at the forefront of the environmental research agenda of the integrated anthroposphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere since the last century and will continue to be critically important for future environmental science. However, linking humans and the environment through effective policy remains a major challenge for sustainability research and practice. Here we address this gap using an agent-based model (ABM) for a coupled natural and human systems in the Smoky Hill River Watershed (SHRW), Kansas, USA. For this freshwater-dependent agricultural watershed with a highly variable flow regime influenced by human-induced land-use and climate change, we tested the support for an environmental policy designed to conserve and protect fish biodiversity in the SHRW. We develop a proof of concept interdisciplinary ABM that integrates field data on hydrology, ecology (fish richness), social-psychology (value-belief-norm) and economics, to simulate human agents' decisions to support environmental policy. The mechanism to link human behaviors to environmental changes is the social-psychological sequence identified by the value-belief-norm framework and is informed by hydrological and fish ecology models. Our results indicate that (1) cultural factors influence the decision to support the policy; (2) a mechanism modifying social-psychological factors can influence the decision-making process; (3) there is resistance to environmental policy in the SHRW, even under potentially extreme climate conditions; and (4) the best opportunities for policy acceptance were found immediately after extreme environmental events. The modeling approach presented herein explicitly links biophysical and social science has broad generality for sustainability problems.

Building a children's health and environment research agenda in Alberta, Canada: A multi-stakeholder engagement process

As new environmental exposures are continuously identified, environmental influences on health are of growing concern. Knowledge regarding the impacts of environmental exposures is constantly evolving and is often incomplete. In this paper, we describe a multi-phased, multi-stakeholder engagement initiative involving diverse stakeholders with an interest in building a children's environmental health research agenda which would link with and support local practices and policies. The intent of this initiative was to identify priority research issues, themes and questions by implementing a tested Research Planning Model that encompassed the engagement of diverse stakeholders. Here, we describe the model application, which was specifically focused on children's health and the environment. A key component of the model was the ongoing stakeholder engagement process. This included two stakeholder forums, during which participants identified three main research themes (social determinants of health, environmental exposures and knowledge translation) and a short list of research questions. Other key components of the model included the development of a Global Sounding Board of key stakeholders, an Advisory Board and a Scientific Panel with mandates to review and prioritise the research questions. In our case, the Advisory Board and Scientific Panel prioritised questions that focused on environmental exposures related to children's respiratory outcomes. The stakeholder engagement described here is an evolving process with frequent changes of context, sustained by the commitment and dedication of the Children's Environment and Health Research planning team and the Advisory Board. In this article, we share the engagement process, outcomes, successes, challenges and lessons learned from this ongoing experience.
 Keywordsstakeholder engagement, children's health, environmental health, health research

A collaboratively derived environmental research agenda for Galápagos

Galápagos is one of the most pristine archipelagos in the world and its conservation relies upon research and sensible management. In recent decades both the interest in, and the needs of, the islands have increased, yet the funds and capacity for necessary research have remained limited. It has become, therefore, increasingly important to identify areas of priority research to assist decision-making in Galápagos conservation. This study identified 50 questions considered priorities for future research and management. The exercise involved the collaboration of policy makers, practitioners and researchers from more than 30 different organisations. Initially, 360 people were consulted to generate 781 questions. An established process of preworkshop voting and three rounds to reduce and reword the questions, followed by a two-day workshop, was used to produce the final 50 questions. The most common issues raised by this list of questions were human population growth, climate change and the impact of invasive alien species. These results have already been used by a range of organisations and politicians and are expected to provide the basis for future research on the islands so that its sustainability may be enhanced.

Corrigendum to: A collaboratively derived environmental research agenda for Galápagos

Galápagos is one of the most pristine archipelagos in the world and its conservation relies upon research and sensible management. In recent decades both the interest in, and the needs of, the islands have increased, yet the funds and capacity for necessary research have remained limited. It has become, therefore, increasingly important to identify areas of priority research to assist decision-making in Galápagos conservation. This study identified 50 questions considered priorities for future research and management. The exercise involved the collaboration of policy makers, practitioners and researchers from more than 30 different organisations. Initially, 360 people were consulted to generate 781 questions. An established process of preworkshop voting and three rounds to reduce and reword the questions, followed by a two-day workshop, was used to produce the final 50 questions. The most common issues raised by this list of questions were human population growth, climate change and the impact of invasive alien species. These results have already been used by a range of organisations and politicians and are expected to provide the basis for future research on the islands so that its sustainability may be enhanced.

Air quality loss in urban centers of the Argentinean Dry Chaco: Wind and dust control as two scientifically neglected ecosystem services

The Dry Chaco is one of the most active agriculture frontiers, which imposes trade-offs and synergies among ecosystem services (ES). Most studies analyze real or potential supply of ES associated to land use change; but they usually neglect ES social demands. Interviews to inhabitants of small urban centers in the Argentinean Dry Chaco revealed that wind speed control and dust control are high valued ES in towns within agricultural contexts. The absence of such perception in forest context towns, and the presence of vegetation covering soil during the windy and dry season support such demand. Loss of air quality –as an agricultural disservice- is a socially perceived ES so far ignored in the environmental research agenda, which should be reversed.

The Diverse Properties of Private Land Conservation in Chile: Growth and Barriers to Private Protected Areas in a Market-friendly Context

Private land conservation and many other contemporary environmental practices and policies are commonly described as 'market-based' or 'market-driven.' We argue that this characterisation derives in part from a conflation of private property rights with markets, and that it can obscure the diversity of institutional logics, practices, and political dynamics involved in conservation. We seek to illustrate this diversity through an analysis of private protected areas (PPA) in Chile. Through the experiences of different types of protected areas, as well as the related policy debates, we explore the ideological, political, and institutional conflicts and barriers to private land conservation within a legal and policy framework widely considered to be market friendly. Based on the diverse qualities of property rights observed in conservation projects we suggest the need for a critical environmental research agenda focussed on this neglected form of institutional diversity.

Stability of Tropical Rainforest Margins – Linking Ecological, Economic and Social Contraints of Land Use and Conservation, T. Tscharntke, C. Leuschner, M. Zeller, E. Guhardja, A. Bidin (Eds.). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg (2007), 515pp., €181,85, ISBN: 978-3-540-30289-6

The Dry Chaco is one of the most active agriculture frontiers, which imposes trade-offs and synergies among ecosystem services (ES). Most studies analyze real or potential supply of ES associated to land use change; but they usually neglect ES social demands. Interviews to inhabitants of small urban centers in the Argentinean Dry Chaco revealed that wind speed control and dust control are high valued ES in towns within agricultural contexts. The absence of such perception in forest context towns, and the presence of vegetation covering soil during the windy and dry season support such demand. Loss of air quality –as an agricultural disservice- is a socially perceived ES so far ignored in the environmental research agenda, which should be reversed.

NSF proposes environmental research agenda

A proposed 10‐year agenda for environmental research and education at the U.S. National Science Foundation is open for comments through 10 August 2002. The agenda recommends increased attention in three areas: coupled human and natural systems, coupled biological and physical systems, and people and technology The third area includes how people and institutions interact with the natural environment, use environmental resources, and create and implement new technologies to protect and improve the environment.

Product recovery with some byte: an overview of management challenges and environmental consequences in reverse manufacturing for the computer industry

Estimates vary about the rate at which end-of-life computer products have been piling up, but the total population of spent computers is likely to reach into the hundreds of millions. To tackle this mounting solid and hazardous waste problem, policy and business entrepreneurs are promoting product recovery as an environmentally preferable alternative to disposal, and product recovery infrastructure and strategy has begun to develop in recent decades. However, despite some real and theoretical developments in the field, current literature lacks an overall description of the recovery process capable of capturing the essence of end-of-life management challenges for complex, rapidly obsolete, high-tech products like computers and electronics. The absence of this broad frame of reference presents a problem for managers trying to integrate environmentally sound choices into planning and management. Using case research from the computer and electronics industry, in this paper we present a generalized overview of product recovery. The purpose of this paper is two-fold: to describe the recovery of computers as a step-by-step process, and to frame an environmental research agenda for recovery management. With an eye toward generalizing the growing and diversifying practices in reverse manufacturing, we use our description from the computer and electronics industry to highlight broad challenges that managers confront at each stage of the process and to identify environmental dimensions of product recovery management decisions that require additional research.

Certified reference materials for organic contaminants for use in monitoring of the aquatic environment

Over the last three decades organic contaminants have been of increasing importance in environmental monitoring. Dioxins, furans, polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorine pesticides have determined the environmental research agenda. This has led to an increasing demand for certified reference materials (CRMs). However, CRMs have only been made available in limited numbers, as the production and certification of CRMs is normally a relatively slow process. This paper gives an overview of the available CRMs for biota and sediments for these contaminants and the developments in their quality.

Environmental Economic Research Has an Audience But Not a Sponsor: Discussion

There exists no mechanism for federal agencies, national laboratories, industry, and academic institutions to set a national environmental research agenda. Moreover, funding for social science research is inadequate for providing a sound scientific basis for making environmental policy. Despite this lack of leadership, it is quite possible to define an environmental economic research agenda that could lead to improved policies for protecting and managing the environment. The present paper makes some recommendations from an insider's viewpoint.