Regional Environmental Impact Research Articles

Fate, dissipation and environmental effects of pesticides in southern forests: A review of a decade of research progress

AbstractTen years of watershed‐scale research has been conducted on the fate of forestry‐use pesticides in forested catchments under mainly operational conditions throughout the southern United States. Studies have evaluated chemicals such as hexazinone, picloram, sulfometuron methyl, metsulfuron methyl, azinphosmethyl, triclopyr, carbofuran, lindane, malathion, fenvalerate, copper‐chromium‐arsenic, and pentachlorophenol. Off‐site movement in stream flow, leaching to ground water, and thermal combustion have been examined. Model verifications of pesticide fate and dissipation and risk analyses have been conducted using simulation models such as GLEAMS, CREAMS, and PRZM. Field study data indicate that movement is controlled by the main hydrologic pathways (e.g., surface runoff, infiltration, interflow, and leaching below the root zone). Peak residue concentrations tend to be low (< 500 μg/L), except where direct applications are made to perennial streams or to ephemeral channels, and where buffer strips are not used and do not persist for extended periods of time. Indirect effects noted from the use of pesticides in forested watersheds include temporarily increased nitrate nitrogen losses, reduced sediment yields, temporal changes in terrestrial invertebrate abundance, reduced plant diversity, and changes in particulate organic matter transport in streams. Very limited cumulative effects research has been conducted. The effects of increasing watershed size on herbicide concentrations and the impact of nonforestry pesticides on fish have been examined. Analyses conducted in regional environmental impact statements indicate that the low concentrations and short persistence of forestry pesticides in surface and ground water do not pose a significant risk to water quality, aquatic biota, or human health.

Culture and Power in Banaras: Community, Performance, and Environment, 1800–1980, by B. Sandria Freitag , ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989. xviii + 291 pp. Maps, photographs, figures. $35.

This collection of ten essays on Banaras, one of the largest urban centers in India's eastern Gangetic plain, is united by a common interest in examining everyday activities in order to learn about shared values and motivations, processes of identity formation, and self-conscious constructions of community. Part One examines the performance genres that have drawn audiences from throughout the city. Part Two focuses on the areas of neighborhood, leisure, and work, examining the processes by which urban residents use a sense of identity to organize their activities and bring meaning to their lives. Part Three links these experiences within Banaras to a series of larger worlds, ranging from language movements and political protests to disease ecology and regional environmental impact. Banaras is a complex world, with differences in religion, caste, class, language, and popular culture; the diversity of these essays embraces those differences. It is a collection that will interest scholars and students of South Asia as well as anyone interested in comparative discussions of popular culture.

River basin administration

Management of international rivers and their basins is the focus of the Centre for Comparative Studies on (International) River Basin Administration, recently established at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Water pollution, sludge, and conflicting interests in the use of water in upstream and downstream parts of a river basin will be addressed by studying groundwater and consumption of water in the whole catchment area of a river.Important aspects of river management are administrative and policy aspects. The Centre will focus on policy, law, planning, and organization, including transboundary cooperation, posing standards, integrated environmental planning on regional scale and environmental impact assessments.

Regional environmental and economic impact evaluation: An input-output approach

This article develops a regional input-output model which deals with both the environmental sector and the traditional treatment of the economy. The model differs from previous work in that environmental interactions are treated non-linearly and explicit account is taken of environmental feedback to the economic sector. Estimation of non-linear environmental feedback makes it possible to more accurately assess the sensitivity of the regional economic-environmental structure to shifts in final demand over time.

A simulation model for regional environmental impact analysis—a case study for the Kinki region†

This paper is concerned with an environmental impact analysis model for decision‐making in regional planning and management. The model considered in this paper is composed of three environmental impact submodels; namely, air pollution model (APM), water pollution model (WPM) and the model for solid wastes disposal, especially for plastic waste (SWM). All the submodels are set up to be interconnected in a simple but effective way to analyze the essential features of environmental impacts due to our activities in the region. By using the model stated above, a case study has been made of impact analysis for the Kinki Region, one of economically important regions in Japan. The results of the case study indicate feasibility and applicability of the model to assess the future environmental impacts due to population increase and changes in pattern of material consumptions and of industrial activities in the region.