International Environmental Organizations Research Articles

AI-driven remote sensing enhances Mediterranean seagrass monitoring and conservation to combat climate change and anthropogenic impacts

Seagrasses are undergoing widespread loss due to anthropogenic pressure and climate change. Since 1960, the Mediterranean seascape lost 13–50% of the areal extent of its dominant and endemic seagrass-Posidonia oceanica, which regulates its ecosystem. Many conservation and restoration projects failed due to poor site selection and lack of long-term monitoring. Here, we present a fast and efficient operational approach based on a deep-learning artificial intelligence model using Sentinel-2 data to map the spatial extent of the meadows, enabling short and long-term monitoring, and identifying the impacts of natural and human-induced stressors and changes at different timescales. We apply ACOLITE atmospheric correction to the satellite data and use the output to train the model along with the ancillary data and therefore, map the extent of the meadows. We apply noise-removing filters to enhance the map quality. We obtain 74–92% of overall accuracy, 72–91% of user’s accuracy, and 81–92% of producer’s accuracy, where high accuracies are observed at 0–25 m depth. Our model is easily adaptable to other regions and can produce maps in in-situ data-scarce regions, providing a first-hand overview. Our approach can be a support to the Mediterranean Posidonia Network, which brings together different stakeholders such as authorities, scientists, international environmental organizations, professionals including yachting agents and marinas from the Mediterranean countries to protect all P. oceanica meadows in the Mediterranean Sea by 2030 and increase each country’s capability to protect these meadows by providing accurate and up-to-date maps to prevent its future degradation.

Europeanization as a hegemonic process: the counter-hegemonic coal phase-out struggle in Turkey

ABSTRACT The study examines how anti-coal groups – national and international environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) and influential think tanks – conduct a counter-hegemonic struggle to Europeanize the coal exit process in Turkey. By undertaking intellectual leadership in Turkey’s growing authoritarian political-economic space, anti-coal groups proactively have shaped the discourse on the coal phase-out debates within civil society. To delegitimize the official hegemonic frame promoting coal for energy independence, supply security, and rapid economic development, they have appealed to the European Green Deal as a powerful discursive tool to create necessary consent for a coal exit in Turkey. Based on the Europeanization perspective complemented with the Gramscian insights that enabled the consideration of the power relations and vested interests within energy transition, the study reveals that the anti-coal groups have conducted a counter-hegemonic discursive struggle for the Europeanization of Turkey’s policy of coal exit.

US‐based and international environmental nongovernmental organizations use social media, but few have large audiences online

AbstractSocial media plays an outsized role in information dissemination, issue mobilization, and public influence. For environmental nongovernmental organizations (“eNGOs”), social media plays a critical role in fundraising and inspiring engaged audiences using rich media and punchy taglines. Yet, there is little to no accounting of whether and how eNGOs have adopted social media, limiting analyses of how eNGOs are leveraging social media to develop effective communication strategies and campaigns. We analyzed the social media presence of over 100 eNGOs. We evaluated which platforms are used by eNGOs and differences between them in terms of their visibility on social media. 88%–97% of the eNGOs in our sample use four out of the five leading social media platforms. There were marked differences across eNGOs and platforms in terms of public visibility, represented by the number of followers. eNGOs focusing on advocacy, aquatic environments, and species conservation had significantly larger numbers of followers. Our findings indicate that conservation can make more headway on newer, more visually‐oriented platforms that also have stronger youth traction. We use our analyses to identify which eNGOs have much larger followings on social media than expected. These leaders can provide lessons on how eNGOs can enhance their social media impact.

Vincent and the Rainforest

The film presents a unique conversation between anthropologist Edvard Hviding and his long-term friend Vincent Vaguni, a community leader and sometime environmental activist from the remote village of Tamaneke in northern New Georgia, Solomon Islands. The film begins with a conversation at Vincent's home followed by a travel to the rainforest, where Vincent shows his knowledge regarding the use of plants and trees. The conversation gives insight into Vincent's "local" perspective on the issues of an outside world through descriptions of his career of cooperation and conflict with foreign actors (including Asian logging companies, Australian mining companies, and international environmental organizations such as the World Wide Fund for Nature). It also gives insight into the vast knowledge of the rainforest held by individuals like Vincent.

Justice in nature conservation: limits and possibilities under global capitalism

ABSTRACT International environmental organizations bankrolled by corporations present nature conservation as critical to avert the climate crisis and usher in climate justice on a global scale. Indigenous lands are now enrolled in carbon offset markets and debt for nature swaps whereby healthy ecosystems in the Global South are set aside for conservation in exchange for economic benefits commonly captured by an elite few. It is therefore urgent to ask if nature conservation can and should be a medium to usher in justice for those most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Here, I argue that justice whereby the rights and self-determination of Black and Indigenous peoples are upheld is incompatible with global conservation based on two premises. First, conservation is fundamental to the global expansion of capitalism. Second, for capitalism to reproduce itself it necessitates the dehumanization, dispossession, and suppression of the rights of people racialized as non-White. Thus, justice in global conservation hinges on its complete disentanglement with capitalism and the racial order sustaining it. Black and Indigenous led movements working at the intersections of land tenure, food sovereignty, and biodiversity conservation present pathways to delink from global capitalism and usher in justice in nature conservation.

Теоретические подходы к определению сущности циркулярной экономики

The article, based on the analysis of statistical data, substantiates the need to change the paradigm of socio-economic development and transition to a nature-like, environmentally friendly closed-loop economy. The study explores various theoretical approaches to defining the circular economy (CE) as an alternative to the traditional linear economy described in domestic and foreign science literature. The author-developed definition of a circular economy is proposed. The article reveals multidimensional benefits gained due to the introduction of circular economy principles into the real economy. Unified approaches to understanding the CE essence are necessary to determine the directions for further development of the CE concept and the possibilities of its implementation in business processes. The research theoretical background includes national and foreign scientific papers on the issues of closed-loop economy (circular economy) concept development. The data background includes analytical and statistical reports of international and national environmental organizations and governmental and non-governmental entities. Applied methods of informational monitoring and analysis of national and international scientific databases, systemic analysis, synthesis, and pattern identification determine the validity of the conclusions. The results obtained will allow determining the conditions, possible ways, and methods for systemic environmental transformation of economic goods production and consumption processes and for the transition to a closed-loop economy model.

Environmental Problems of Liberia

The Republic of Liberia is experiencing many of the same environmental problems as the entire region of West Africa. In recent decades, challenges related to the preservation of natural resources have become increasingly relevant here. The natural resources of Liberia, its flora and fauna are insufficiently protected, which opens up wide opportunities for various kinds of illegal activities. Despite the fact that any types of development of natural resources are prohibited in nature reserves and national parks, the local population for many years has been using their territory for farming, cattle grazing, logging, small-scale mining, house building, fishing and hunting. The article analyzes the main environmental risks in the Republic of Liberia: unauthorized logging, hunting of wild animals, pollution of terrestrial water sources and oceanic coastal waters by industrial and household waste, uncontrolled increase in the number of landfills. It is emphasized that the unfavorable environmental situation negatively affects the health of the population and damages the tourism industry. The work of some national and international environmental organizations to normalize the environmental situation in the country is analyzed. It is concluded that currently the listed environmental problems of Liberia, due to the difficult internal economic situation, are far from being resolved. Сurrently, measures taken for environmental protection purposes, both at the level of individual countries of the continent and at the international level, do not give the expected results. Thus, environmental problems in Liberia, as in a number of other States of the African continent, are growing much more intensively than they are being solved. In many ways, this is the result of a whole complex of interrelated challenges of the modern stage of development, rooted in the traditional understanding of the practical use of natural resources.

Co-producing autonomy? Forest monitoring programs, territorial ontologies, and Indigenous politics in Amazonia

Forest monitoring programs have become widespread in Amazon Basin countries. Using GPS artifacts, smartphones, drones, and other technologies, international environmental non-government organizations (IENGOs) propose these programs as tools to control and stop deforestation events—and thus of climate change mitigation. These also seem like ideal initiatives for IENGOs to collaborate with Indigenous organizations, responding to calls to include their knowledge in climate governance. I analyze forest/territorial monitoring programs created by the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) and its member organizations in Ecuador and Peru. Scholarship in Science and Technology Studies (STS) and digital geographies has demonstrated how digital environmental technologies and environmental relations and politics can co-produce and shape one another. It has also referred to the historically exploitative relationships that technoscientific projects have enforced towards Indigenous peoples, and the potential of digital tools for emancipatory goals. I argue that forest monitoring programs and technologies co-produce forms of climate and territorial politics in Amazonia. Through forest monitoring programs, Indigenous leaders and organizations imagine and enact territorial defense, or a politics founded on integral territorial ontologies. That is, they see the programs as tools to strengthen their autonomy, to build the capacities of leaders at all scales of political organization, and to support their claims for territorial rights. For them, technologies can make Indigenous cosmovisions or ancestral knowledges visible. However, these programs can also reinforce a politics (of IENGOs) where territories are spaces with strict boundaries and exclusive rights, and which encourages open-access information, thus potentially threatening Indigenous autonomy. Thus, I discuss the intrinsically contradictory impact of monitoring technologies, as the conceptions of territories as lifeworlds, and the embeddedness of ancestral knowledges in them, further exceed their possibilities. Conclusions highlight the importance of attending to Indigenous territorial defense to understand how (new) technologies and society shape each other, and the many implications of climate change responses to justice issues.

Analysis of the evolutionary game between maritime regulators and carriers under the discharge of ballast nuclear wastewater from ships

The Japanese government officially announced the discharge of Fukushima nuclear wastewater into the sea on April 13, 2021, which has caused concern and strong opposition from countries worldwide and international environmental organizations. Through the analysis of relevant data, it is found that the hazards of ship ballast nuclear wastewater are reflected in the following: ship ballast water flows widely, the high discharge of ship ballast water, and the high reserves of Fukushima nuclear wastewater. In this case, the evolutionary game models of the maritime regulator and the carrier, and the society, maritime regulator and the carrier were constructed, respectively. In the evolutionary game model between the maritime regulator and the carrier, the carrier is not very motivated to deal with the ship's ballast water due to the influence of several related factors, especially the exorbitant treatment cost. After introducing the social supervision and reward system, maritime regulators found that controlling their own supervision cost and giving appropriate rewards to freighters with the participation of social supervision can effectively improve the motivation of freighters to deal with the ship's ballast water. In addition, through the comparative analysis of the before-and-after game model, it is found that the high cost required by the carriers to deal with ships' ballast water will directly affect the stable state that the game model tends to be. Therefore, the sustainable growth of the port's ecological environment benefits from pursuing affordable and effective ship's ballast water treatment.

Decentralized model of financial and investment provision of nature protection and nature exploitation activities: specific formation in urban and rural territorial communities

It has been established that increasing the efficiency of solving the problems of improving the environment and the rational involvement of natural resources in the reproductive process depends on the formation of a decentralized model of financial and investment support for nature protection and nature exploitation activities, which will make it possible to strengthen the investment focus of natural resource and environmental payments, which are concentrated in local budgets. It is substantiated that the key element of the decentralized model of financial and investment support for nature protection and nature exploitation activities is the increase in the share of the transfer of environmental tax and rent and fees for the use of other natural resources to local government budgets with their further accumulation in special environmental funds. It has been proven that it is worth applying a differentiated approach to the formation of a decentralized model of financial and investment support for nature protection and nature exploitation activities for urban and rural territorial communities, based on the significant gap between the size of the public financial potential in these categories of communities. It has been established that the formation of Environmental Protection Funds, where 100% of environmental tax, 30% of rent and fees for the use of other natural resources will be concentrated, should be the main link of the decentralized model of financial and investment support for nature protection and nature exploitation activities in urban territorial communities. 10% of the net profit of utilities. Making informed decisions about land use in both urban and rural territorial communities requires appropriate information support. It is substantiated that additional sources of filling the Environmental Protection Funds of urban territorial communities should be considered the receipt of funds accumulated in connection with the emission of green bonds of a local loan, the implementation of public-private partnership agreements, the participation of local governments in the implementation of grant programs, the receipt of financial assistance from international environmental protection organizations and governments of foreign countries. It was established that in rural territorial communities, the dominant role in financial and investment provision of solving environmental problems should remain at the oblast level of local self-government and regional executive power.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION OF CUSTOMS AUTHORITIES IN THE FIELD OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

The article touches upon application of international customs cooperation mechanism in order to ensure environmental safety of foreign trade and customs processes, touched upon the issues of cooperation between customs authorities and international environmental organizations.

Public good of ecology: results of international survey


 
 
 Based on an author’s survey of citizens living in different countries, the hypothesis of low demand for the public good «clean environment» for developing countries and for high demand – for developed countries was tested. The attitude of representatives of different nations to the environment as a public good was studied based on the results of a survey of 564 respondents from different countries (228 from Ukraine and 336 from abroad). k-means method was used for clustering, which allows the creation k-groups from a set of data. It was determined that the respondents of the 1st cluster are more satisfied than others with the level of personal awareness of the state of the environment in their countries than the respondents of the 2nd cluster. Most of the population in all surveyed groups receives information about the environmental situation from the Internet. Representatives of both clusters are aware of environmental human rights at the average level (65-75%). Representatives of both clusters are ready to take an active part in solving environmental problems, but among the representatives of the 1st cluster there are much more people who know about the existence of international environmental organizations. Only about half of the respondents from both clusters believe in the threat of a global environmental crisis. Representatives of the 2nd cluster and Ukrainians see the greatest threat to the environment in the transport and manufacturing spheres, while representatives of the 1st cluster pay considerable attention to other factors. Approximately the same number of respondents in both clusters acknowledge that corruption affects the environment. The situation in the survey on the destructive impact of financial-industrial groups on the environment is similar. About 90% of respondents in the 1st cluster and over 95% of Ukrainians consider environmental protection a public good, while in the 2nd cluster only 75% hold a similar opinion. The analysis of the survey results confirms the hypothesis about the sociality of the choice of the public good «clean environment», important for the design of environmental policy tools in the long run. Underestimation of the public good «clean environment» indicates a potentially weak public pressure to form a model of economic policy that corresponds to the modern understanding of sustainable development.
 
 

Environmental Aspects of the State of African Coastal Territories

To preserve the ecological balance and health of the population of the African continent, it is necessary to maintain the cleanliness of the surrounding rivers, lakes and ocean coasts. Oil production, transportation of oil and petroleum products inevitably lead to pollution of sea waters due to accidents on tankers, equipment breakdowns, and fires. Oceanic coasts are of great importance for the development of the tourism industry, which plays a significant role in the national economies of African countries. However, many coastal areas are contaminated with industrial and household waste, oil refining waste and sewage. As a result of the growth of cities, the increase in the number of urban residents and the development of industry, a huge number of substances that do not decompose naturally is discharged into water sources. Currently, domestic sewage in most coastal cities does not meet modern sanitary requirements, since the repair of old and the laying of new sewage treatment plants require large financial investments. In the interests of nature and human health, a number of international instruments has been adopted prohibiting the import of hazardous and radioactive waste, as well as the dumping or incineration of hazardous waste in the oceans and inland waters on the African continent. In some African countries, periodic clean-up activities are carried out on ocean and river coasts, but they are ad hoc and do not have a decisive impact on the state of contaminated areas. Experts of international environmental organizations have proposed a set of measures for the conservation and rational use of water resources: construction of wastewater treatment plants; mandatory environmental assessment of all major water management projects; development of measures to eliminate possible damage; control of new industrial installations and industrial waste disposal; design and operation of landfills based on reliable hydrogeological information and environmental expertise. However, these regulations are often violated, and solving the problem of coastal water pollution remains a distant prospect.

Impact of the long-time armed conflicts on the ecological safety of industrial objects


 
 
 The article analyzes the consequences of pollution from industrial enterprises, as well as the risks of disruption of operation and flooding of mines. The armed conflict in the East of Ukraine led to serious environmental consequences – it is the pollution of groundwater, water bodies, air pollution, decommissioning of large areas of arable land, destruction and damage to objects of the nature reserve fund, forest fires, etc. It has been shown that in areas where the armed conflict continues, there has been significant pollution of the environment with chemical toxic substances, metal fragments and heavy metals due to artillery shelling and the use of explosives. As a result, numerous funnels were formed, which mutilated the land and destroyed natural protected areas, flooded mines, built fortifications, ditches, and damaged sewage and water supply networks. Risks associated with damage to communications, businesses and other facilities that pose an increased environmental risk, increase the scale of the negative impact. The problem of flooding of mines and excessive mineralization of waters, which are the part of the production process, is very relevant for both Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Solving this problem requires significant efforts from both the Ukrainian state and international environmental organizations. The main problem is that the mines are located in both controlled and uncontrolled by the Ukrainian government. The fate of coal mines in the territory not controlled by t government of Ukraine is uncertain and requires control by international organizations that are able to conduct monitoring activities. The coal industry in the EU is at «coal-out phase», i. e. at the stage of gradual abandonment of coal mining. First of all, this is dictated by the EU’s course to reach a carbon-free economy by 2050, which means the gradual abandonment of coal generation and the transition to renewable energy sources. And also in accordance with the EU Directive No787 in 2010 On the need to close unprofitable mines.
 
 

Criteria for assessing the ecological state of the territory in modern conditions

International environmental organizations play a huge role in environmental protection. Their creation was caused by catastrophic changes in nature, they were designed to protect it from humanity and, in fact, to save man himself from the results of his own activities. People are obliged to take care not only of animals or birds, we must protect everything that is around us if we want our planet to flourish, successfully developed wonderful gifts of nature. The article discusses the environmental situation degradation: atmospheric air pollution, in fractions of maximum permissible concentrations, water supply and water pollution, soil pollution with household waste and radioactive contamination.

Europeanisation from below at the semi-periphery: The movement against small hydropower plants in Serbia

This paper focuses on Let?s Defend the Rivers of Stara Planina, a local environmental initiative that has managed to scale up and transnationalise (Europeanise) from below and to generate sufficient pressure on national power-holders to amend existing legislation and halt further construction of small hydropower plants in protected natural areas. Linking the concepts of environmentalism of the poor/dispossessed and the transnationalisation (Europeanisation) of environmental protests through the example of Serbian protests against small hydropower plants, we explore how a local movement grew out of a tradition of non-politicised everyday environmentalism, transformed into a rebellion of the dispossessed and then tried to organise at both national and transnational level, using assistance from EU institutions and international environmental organisations to leverage national authorities and developers, while at the same time remaining critical of certain EU environmental policies and practices. This study is based on discursive analysis of the content posted to the official Facebook group and website of Let?s Defend the Rivers of Stara Planina.

The Role of International Organizations in Maintaining Environmental Security

The conducted research aims to determine the role of international organizations in the field of maintaining environmental safety. It is concluded that the relevance of the activities of international environmental organizations, governmental and non-governmental, both individually and collectively, make an important contribution to the processes of ensuring and maintaining environmental safety throughout the world, showing the need to disseminate environmental education, invest in environmental projects, increase society’s involvement in cooperation at the national and international levels, update scientific theoretical and practical research, and preserve natural heritage for future generations.

Development of environmental projects at the level of public administration

The article is devoted to the issues of improving the ecological condition of territories. territorial development is a complex and multifaceted issue. One of the main priorities of territorial development today is the issue of ecology. Environmental problems are global in nature. However, their solution belongs to the competence not only of international environmental organizations, but, first of all, of central authorities at the state level and territorial communities at the local level. One of the effective methods of analysis of the ecological condition of the territory for further development of mechanisms for cleaning the environment is the Habitat method. The methodology is proposed by the UN and is actively implemented to analyze the ecological status of territories. The article analyzes some elements of the methodology of assessment of territories, gives an example of analysis of territorial development of one of the cities of Ukraine. Based on the analysis, an algorithm for assessing the ecological condition of the territory has been developed and ways to form environmental policy at the territorial level through the formation of effective mechanisms for public management of territorial development have been proposed.

On negative aspects of environmental and other non-profit organizations’ activities under conditions of global challenges and threats

Subject. This article considers the activities of international environmental and other non-profit organizations, in the context of continuing economic integration of countries. Their humanitarian reputation, potential, and pervasiveness are increasingly being used by the West in unfair competition in the markets for natural resource extraction and territory development. Objectives. The aim is to identify and assess possible threats to the economic security of the State, associated with the activities of environmental and other non-profit organizations in its territory. Methods. The study employs the dialectical method, systems approach, and tabular interpretation of empirical and factual information. In view of little knowledge of the problem in economic science, for our empirical reasoning and hypotheses, we perform the analysis of resonant examples of the influence of international organizations on economic processes in the State. Results. We examined negative aspects of activities of environmental organizations, potentially posing a threat to the economic security of the State. We analyzed examples that confirm the illegal actions of such movements, predicted their possible consequences, assessed resonant situations associated with the functioning of Greenpeace, WWF, and attempts to establish external control over political, social, and economic projects of the State. Conclusions. International non-profit organizations have a direct impact on government processes in the Russian Federation. It is important to establish and develop national environmental structures, implement awareness-raising activities, and support domestic science.

A tripartite evolutionary game analysis of Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge

Japan's decision to discharge nuclear wastewater into the sea on April 13, 2021 has aroused worldwide discussions recently. This paper establishes a tripartite evolutionary game model to explore the evolutionary stable strategies (ESSs) of Japan, other countries, and international environmental protection organization (IEPO). The results show: i) The choice of Japan is closely related to the treatment cost of nuclear wastewater. When Japan chooses the non-discharge strategy, other countries will always choose the acceptance strategy, while IEPO will trade off between its credibility and international assistance. When Japan chooses the discharge strategy, the choice of other countries depends on the difference of litigation compensation and cost, while that of IEPO is determined by the comparison of the litigation compensation and credibility with the litigation cost. ii) The treatment cost of nuclear wastewater, negative externalities of marine environment, litigation compensation, international assistance from IEPO, and the proximity coefficient between Japan and other countries are critical factors influencing both evolutionary results and trajectories, while the international assistance from other countries and initial willingness only affect evolutionary trajectories. This paper also puts forward policy implications for the three stakeholders to promote Japan's non-discharge strategy so as to protect the marine environment and human health from the unprecedented damage.