Set Environmental Standards Research Articles

Elucidating Environment Management Intervention Benefits and Underpinning Factors among Uganda’s Albertine Rift Communities

Environmental management intervention benefits have been found to depend on beneficiaries’ unique socioeconomic-environmental factors and understanding these helps generate knowledge guidelines for designing, planning and implementation of new interventions. The Ecosystems Alliance (EA) Project in Uganda’s Albertine Rift promoted interventions including, resource access from protected areas, monitoring oil companies’ compliance to set environmental standards, tree planting, lake bank restoration, bee keeping, hay for livestock feeding and cages to shelter communities from crocodiles for four years in Buliisa, Hoima and Kasese district, to, build management capacity of the local communities and institutions to remedy the region’s environment and natural resources which were declining. At the end of the project we interviewed 56 representatives of the project beneficiaries individually and obtained data on benefit level, factors underpinning and perceived livelihoods and environmental impacts of the interventions and used Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) version 16 (Bryman & Cramer, 2009) to generate percentages (%), correlations with p ≤ 0.05 considered as significant relationship on these. As results, ≥90% of respondents in districts benefited from EA project interventions. Beneficiaries perceived the interventions that enhanced their household incomes and this was especially important for those who were not educated (p = 0.01, for education level); the environment management capacity and this was especially important for women (p = 0.05, for sex) and for households of 4 - 6 members (p = 0.02 with family size); the reduced conflicts with wildlife and this was especially important for households with 4 - 6 members (p = 0.02) and for people who depended on wetlands/wildlife resources (p = 0.00 for both cases) among others. Among constraints to benefit, time of intervention and climatic conditions was especially important among crop farmers (p = 0.04 with occupation) while, intervention not meeting expectation was a factor among beneficiaries in the age group 18 - 31 and 61 - 70 years old (p = 0.01, for age). The respondents recommended future initiatives start with research to determine interventions that match their environment, priority and expectations and these are distributed equitably after prior information/expectation management and technical capacity building.

PROPOSED FRAMEWORK FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS OF HEALTH INFORMATION SYSTEMS TO IMPROVE THE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY OF THE HOSPITALS IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND POPULATION

Scientific Research in Quality Management - Human Resource Management - Human Resources Management - I Will, I'm a Best of Medical Informancy. The researcher conducted a field study and selected the research from the hospitals of the General Secretariat of the Egyptian Ministry of Health to develop the proposed framework for environmental standards for information systems according to the phases of its life cycle of the system: (A)Setting environmental standards for the selection and procurement of ICTs (green technology). (B) Development of environmental standards for the operational phase. C) Development of environmental standards for the phase of substitution and adaptation.

Interstate pollution spillover and setting environmental standards

This paper investigates in a multi-level government system, how the federal government sets environmental standards for different states after communicating with state governments regarding the cost of pollution abatement to local economies. Here, the term “federal government” refers to the level of government in a federation responsible for the whole country, while “state governments” are responsible for individual states. We adopt a game-theoretical analysis under asymmetric information where state governments, which know the pollution abatement cost, report to the federal government, which is initially uninformed about the true cost level. We argue that interstate spillover of pollution causes a bias for state governments towards lax environmental standards and gives state governments an incentive to exaggerate the economic cost of pollution abatement. In equilibrium, state governments partition the set of possible costs into disjoint subsets and report the same cost to the federal government under different costs within each partition. After receiving reports, the federal government only knows the partition to which the local cost belongs and sets environmental standards that are not appropriate for the state. On the other hand, when state governments have the authority of setting local standards, the standards are inefficiently lax from a total welfare perspective. The paper compares total welfare levels of all states under the environmental standards set by the federal and state governments. The result indicates that if the degree of spillover is small, the welfare level in the centralized system is less than that in the decentralized system.

The Fulfilment of South Africa’s Environmental Right: Sustainable Development the Fundamental Building Block

One of the greatest challenges facing South Africa and the rest of the world is to improve the quality of human life for both the present and future generations through sustainable development. The Constitution provides a historic bridge between the past of a deeply divided society characterised by conflict and democracy. South Africa is embracing, at least in theory, the balancing exercise inherent in the quest for sustainability. The principle of sustainability of the environment encompasses the notion of inter-generational equity, that is, the harm to the environment affects the present as well as future generations, what we can call as the tragedy of the commons. Hence, the public needs to be properly and effectively informed regarding any threats to the environment, whether globally, regionally, nationally or locally. Environmental rights mean access to the unspoiled natural resources that enable survival, including land, shelter, food, water and air. Environments rights may be degraded through air and water pollution, noise, ecosystem deterioration and reduced biological diversity. An emerging category of ‘environmental rights’ requires governments to set environmental standards in order to protect people’s surroundings. An unhealthy environment inevitably impacts on the health of the people living with it. Environmental openness is an inalienable human right. The interests of the moment and the importance of a particular development for a particular entity may, however, still dictate the interpretation or lack of interpretation of the balancing of interests. Sustainability is embedded in governance. An attempt to conceal any information about harmful impact on people and the environment is a crime against humanity. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n25p28

Ochrona środowiska jako istotny element funkcjonowania samorządu terytorialnego w Polsce

Currently, not to be underestimated is the role of local governments in the field of environmental protection. It is on their different levels that local authorities determine the efficiency of setting environmental standards for local communities. The efficient implementation of regional operational programs determines the possibility of implementing the principles of sustainable development.

Sustainability Analysis Based on Emissions Saving for Competitive Maintenance and Rehabilitation Practices

Although roads are preponderant in terms of extension and usage, airports and air transport entail a prominent part of emissions and energy consumption worldwide. There is a need for improving airport pavements construction and maintenance practices in order to limit greenhouse gasses and set environmental standards towards the development of more “sustainable airports.” Since environmental impact assessment of major projects is becoming mandatory in many countries, various researches are attempting to evaluate environmental impacts of different pavement materials, technologies or processes over the airport service life. There is a need to measure and describe different aspects of airport pavements sustainability to support these efforts. This paper analyzes emissions saved in reusing and valorizing existing in situ soils through a cement stabilization for improving the bearing capacity of the runway cleared and graded area and/or constructing new sub-base pavement layers. The analysis evaluates emissions due to equipment and materials comparing them with the supplying of large amounts of aggregates from nearby quarries to build granular layers. A case study of a major Italian airport is finally provided. Results show the eco-efficiency of improving pavement management practices adopting energy efficient treatments on airports. Furthermore, eco-saving factors could represent a new and innovative feature to be added in process of evaluating different strategies and investments in an Airport Pavement Management System.

Efforts, resources and costs required for long term environmental management of a resort development: the case of Baker's Bay Golf and Ocean Club, The Bahamas

The natural resources upon which the tourism industry relies upon are subjected to intense pressure during and post development. Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) are the general method used to evaluate the potential impacts of a development. However, EIAs rarely incorporate an EIA-auditing mechanism, or set environmental standards, for evaluating the long term impacts of a proposed development project. The Baker's Bay Golf and Ocean Club (BBC) serves as a coastal tourism development case study, where an Environmental Management Program (EMP) and prescribed environmental goals were incorporated into the EIA. The goal of this paper is to document the efforts, resources and costs required to implement the EMP in an effort to meet the project goals. Lessons learned include the need to mitigate damaged environments, include measurable ecological goals, and establish an open communications system. Substantial time, costs and resources were necessary to implement the EMP and this information should be incorporated into development planning to establish a process to follow through on EIA recommendations.

Airborne particulate matter exposure and urinary albumin excretion: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

Objectives: Understanding mechanistic pathways linking airborne particle exposure to cardiovascular health is important for causal inference and setting environmental standards. We evaluated whether urinary albumin excretion, a subclinical marker of...

Highway Appropriations Bill Shapes Tribal Sovereignty: A Look at Oklahoma Tribes' Ability to Set Environmental Standards in Light of Recent Federal Legislation

Highway Appropriations Bill Shapes Tribal Sovereignty: A Look at Oklahoma Tribes' Ability to Set Environmental Standards in Light of Recent Federal Legislation

Setting air quality standards: a case study of the Australian National Environment Protection Measure for Ambient Air Quality

Australia does not have a federal environmental agency such as the one in the United States. State environmental authorities are responsible for setting environmental standards. Australia has set up a National Environment Protection Council (NEPC) to enact uniform environmental standards by having each State Parliament pass identical legislation, known as a National Environment Protection Measure (NEPM), once it has been agreed by the NEPC. The work for the first NEPM, the National Environment Protection Measure on Ambient Air Quality began in mid-1996. The NEPM was intended to provide standards, and a monitoring and reporting protocol for six air pollutants, known as criteria pollutants - namely, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, particulate matter and lead. Development of the NEPM was in the hands of a Project Team composed of environmental regulators from the States, and from the Commonwealth. The Project Team decided on a risk assessment process that involved six consultancies: Health review; Air quality data collation; Exposure assessment; Health Risk assessment; Social Impact assessment; Measuring and reporting protocols. Both the process and the results of the process were more contentious than originally envisaged, as demonstrated by the release of a notional NEPM at first (instead of a draft NEPM). A draft NEPM was released in late 1997. This paper reviews three possible methods of determining risk-based environmental standards and examines some different ways in which the results of a risk analysis can be used as a scientific input into the process of setting environmental standards. It is concluded that any future Air Quality NEPM process needs to ensure: (i) prior stakeholder agreement on the methodology and its application; (ii) consultancies are undertaken on a collaborative, information sharing basis, rather than on a linear, non-interactive basis, whereby the output of one consultancy is the input to another consultancy, with both consultancies conducted in isolation; (iii) a transparent basis for the conversion of scientific and economic information to numerical standards; (iv) sufficient time is allowed for the technical work to be undertaken, and for the review panels to assess it.

Setting Environmental Standards: The Statistical Approach to Handling Uncertainty and Variation

Introducing a novel approach to setting environmental pollution standards that allow for proper treatment of uncertainty and variation, this book surveys the forms of standards and proposes a new kind of statistically verifiable ideal standard.Setting Environmental Standards includes:a current analysis regarding the treatment of uncertainty and variation in environmental standard settinga review of basic principles in standard setting, including costs, actions and effects, and benefitsexamples where uncertainty and variation have been well-treated in current practice as well as examples where clear deficiencies are apparentspecific proposals for the future approach to setting environmental pollution standards - encompassing the anticipated elements of uncertainty and variabilityThe issues discussed serve statisticians as well as those persons involved with environmental standards. Scientists in agencies responsible for setting standards, in organizations advising such agencies or working in industries subject to these standards, will find Setting Environmental Standards an invaluable reference.

Human exposure to dioxin

Because 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo- p-dioxin (TCDD) is the most potent chemical carcinogen evaluated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), many people fear that exposure to even small amounts of TCDD could lead to serious health effects. Ambient measurements confirm that environmental TCDD contamination is widespread. The public is concerned about TCDD exposure from such diverse sources as municipal solid waste incinerators, pulp and paper mills, and contaminated fish and soil. This paper evaluates several critical issues including: (i) the extent of background contamination; (ii) accumulation in the food chain and the potential for human exposure from ingesting contaminated food items; (iii) the magnitude of TCDD emissions into the U.S. environment, and the relative contribution of various known TCDD sources to the total TCDD load; and (iv) setting environmental standards for TCDD.

Book Reviews : Setting Environmental Standards — Guidelines for Decision Making by H. W. de Koning. Published by WHO, Geneva, 1987. Price: Sw. Fr. 17. Paper back. Pp 98. ISBN: 92 4 154214 4

Book Reviews : Setting Environmental Standards — Guidelines for Decision Making by H. W. de Koning. Published by WHO, Geneva, 1987. Price: Sw. Fr. 17. Paper back. Pp 98. ISBN: 92 4 154214 4