Unregulated Areas Research Articles

Macroprudential policy and the real estate market: Effectiveness and repercussions

Macroprudential policies to counter the housing bubble has been widely implemented to maintain financial stability. However, few attempts have been made to address the (un)intended externalities, namely, the “bubble-thy-neighbor” spillovers of Forbes et al. (2016). A loan-to-value (LTV) policy adopted in a local rather than the overall housing market in Taiwan provides an opportunity to investigate the transmission from the bubbles to spillovers under time-varying econometric frameworks. The empirical results show that the LTV policy has been very effective in eliminating local housing bubbles, while the information regarding exorbitant housing prices in regulated areas had increasing ripple effects on other unregulated areas.

What would Article 5.1 of the 2022 WTO Ministerial Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies accomplish?

The WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies adopted in June 2022 is potentially a step forward for ocean sustainability. Yet, its success in removing fisheries subsidies contributing to illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and overfishing more generally, will depend on its scope, its effective interpretation, and broad implementation. Here we focus on Article 5.1, which, in its narrowest interpretation prohibits fishing subsidies in areas not covered by Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) and Regional Fishery Management Organizations (RFMOs) but in its broadest interpretation prohibits subsidies for any unregulated fisheries in the high seas. This study finds that only ∼1.35% of the high seas are not spatially covered by at least one RFMO, and most of that area are frozen parts of the high seas with little to no fishing. This means that if Article 5.1 is interpreted to mean the area of the high seas not managed under RFMOs, then the effect of Article 5.1 will be minimal or non-existent even if the article is fully implemented. Many RFMOs, however, are only mandated to regulate a few species, such as tunas. Much of the potential impact of Article 5.1 thus could rest on the definition of the ‘competence of a relevant RFMO,’ which we argue should be defined based on both area and species of competence. To make the Article meaningful in terms of removing harmful subsidies that impact the sustainability of high seas fish stocks, additional clarifying provisions to Article 5.1 to reaffirm that it applies to both unregulated areas and species outside of the competence of relevant RFMOs are needed.

Strategic Behavior and Market Design in Regional Climate Policy

U.S. electricity markets vary by region and imperfectly overlap with regional climate policies. Although emissions leakage across emissions-regulated and -unregulated areas may depend on regional market design, and the extent of trading between market designs, previous studies of leakage from regional climate policies have focused on market power and market efficiency within only a centralized region following market rules. I develop a theoretical model which considers a second-best problem where a climate policy to correct for a negative externality from carbon emissions can be distorted by another market failure from the market design itself. My model allows for several types of non-overlapping climate policies and electricity market designs, and generates leakage predictions for these combinations.

MONITORING OF SEDIMENT POLLUTION FOR VARIOUS WATER BODIES IN THE UPPER VOLGA REGION

The problem of water body pollution with heavy metals is still relevant. From the viewpoint of technogenic load, the most hazardous pollutants are elements Hg, Cd, Zn, Pb, Cu, Cr, Co, Ni, Fe, Mn, and As. To systematize the research, the objects of different hierarchical levels were identified. Based on many years of experimental work, contamination of sediments with heavy metals was assessed for the Upper Volga system, i.e., Lake Seliger, an unregulated section of the Upper Volga, Ivankovskoe and Uglichskoe reservoirs. The largest taxon is the basin of the reservoir with the adjoining watershed area with cities and towns located on it, tributaries of various orders, smaller elements of natural and natural-technogenic relief. Urban and settlement agglomerations located on the coasts of reservoirs and unregulated areas or within watersheds are smaller in area, but no less significant in their role in water body pollution. Small rivers contribute to pollution/purification, which can contribute to the flow of both clean and polluted silty material into large watercourses. Different areal and temporal survey modes are offered for taxa of different hierarchy. The practical results of studies of the content in sediments of the listed objects of heavy metals – Cr, Co, Ni, Zn, Cd, Pb, As, Fe and Mn are presented. Described or provided references to the methods used in the experiments. The general picture of pollution is presented and the tendencies of its change in space and time are noted.

Fishing through the cracks: The unregulated nature of global squid fisheries

While most research has focused on the legality of global industrial fishing, unregulated fishing has largely escaped scrutiny. Here, we evaluate the unregulated nature of global squid fisheries using AIS data and nighttime imagery of the globalized fleet of light-luring squid vessels. We find that this fishery is extensive, fishing 149,000 to 251,000 vessel days annually, and that effort increased 68% over the study period 2017-2020. Most vessels are highly mobile and fish in multiple regions, largely (86%) in unregulated areas. While scientists and policymakers express concerns over the declining abundance of squid stocks globally and regionally, we find a net increase in vessels fishing squid globally and spatial expansion of effort to novel areas. Since fishing effort is static in areas with increasing management, and rising in unmanaged areas, we suggest actors may take advantage of fragmented regulations to maximize resource extraction. Our findings highlight a profitable, but largely unregulated fishery, with strong potential for improved management.

A Study on Paldang Reservoir Water Quality Improvement Effect by Pollutant Source Location Regulation Using Watershed-Reservoir Integrated Prediction

Objectives:Since the enactment of the 「Han-River Watershed Act」, comprehensive analysis about direct and indirect contributions and effects of various environmental policies and water quality improvement projects for the preservation of water quality in the Han-River watershed is insufficient. Especially, effect of pollutant source location regulation should be inferred and estimated through model prediction because it does not exist unregulated conditions. As development pressure in non-urban areas near the metropolitan area is increasing, it is necessary to analyze the effects of pollutant source location regulation.Methods:In this study, average pollutant density of Gangwon-do, Gyeonggi-do, and Chungcheongbuk-do, where the regulation areas located, and average pollutant density of water source management areas were compared and analyzed. After that changes in pollutant sources in regulation areas were estimated by assuming load of pollutant sources in unregulated areas that load of pollutant sources in regulation areas. Since many reservoirs are located in Han-river watershed, it is difficult to simulate the water quality of Paldang reservoir using only watershed model, BASINS/WinHSPF and EFDC-WASP were linked. Through this, change in water quality of Paldang Lake was tried to predict when the pollutant location regulation was not implemented, and to analyze the effect of the pollutant location regulation.Results and Discussion:Water quality improvement of Paldang reservoir was evaluated by applying the discharge load when the pollution source location regulation was not implemented to the calibrated model. As a result of the pollution source location regulation, discharge load in the location regulation area was analyzed to reduce by 53.90% and T-P by 48.58%, and the BOD and T-P improvement effect of Paldang Dam was analyzed 6.77% and T-P 6.62%. Since the water quality improvement effect of Paldang Lake is accumulated to the entire upstream, it is evaluated relatively less than pollutant load reducing effect.Conclusion:It was analyzed that pollutiont source location regulation has water quality improvement effect, despite the small area which only located in near Paldang reservoir compared to the total area of the Han-River watershed.

A Neural Network Model for Wildfire Scale Prediction using Meteorological Factors

Forest fires are natural hazards defined as movements of fire through unregulated and uncontrolled forested areas. They pose a permanent risk of loss of forest and forest land. The ability to reliably forecast the region that could be involved in a forest fire incident will help to optimize fire prevention efforts. It appears that Portugal may theoretically make better use of the wildfire risk assessment. More than any other region in Europe, it is a country overrun by wildfires. It has a large amount of forest. Forest fires have a long-term impact on the climate because they contribute to deforestation and global warming, which is one of the main causes of the phenomenon. This research employs Back Propagation Neural Network (BPNN) and Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) models with meteorological parameters as inputs to anticipate forest fires as a means of safeguarding forest biodiversity. The results indicate that using meteorological data, it is possible to anticipate the severity of a forest fire at the beginning.

How regional policies reduce carbon emissions in electricity markets: Fuel switching or emission leakage

There are many concerns that regional carbon programs reduce emissions through emission leakage instead of through fuel switching. We use individual firm-level data to investigate the mechanisms of how the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) reduces CO2 emissions and quantify emission leakage. We find that the RGGI program reduced CO2 emissions by 13.43% of the total emissions from 2009 to 2017 in the RGGI area, among which only 14.35% of the emissions reduction is due to fuel switching from coal to natural gas. From 43.11% (the lower bound) to 85.65% (the upper bound) of the emissions reduction in the RGGI-regulated states are leaked into unregulated areas. We also find that policy-induced fuel switching and fuel price-induced fuel switching increase natural gas heat percentage (natural gas heat input relative to natural gas and coal heat input) in the regulated area by 2.98% and 5.17%, respectively.

АНАЛИЗ ВИДОВОГО СОСТАВА, ПРОБЛЕМЫ ИДЕНТИФИКАЦИИ И ПУТЕЙ РАССЕЛЕНИЯ ЧУЖЕРОДНЫХ ВИДОВ РЫБ В БАССЕЙНЕ РЕКИ ВОЛГИ

The article describes the intensive economic activity in the second half of the 20th century, which, along with apparent global climatic changes in recent decades, led to an increase in the number of alien fish species in the water bodies of the Volga basin. There has been presented the data on the occurrence of invasive species in scientific catches in the Volga River reser-voirs, as well as in its unregulated areas and delta. The invaders’ share in the fish species composition varied from 8 to 32%, depending on the geography of sampling. Special attention is paid to the reasons and pathways of invasive species’ dispersal, as well as to changes in the genetic structure of their populations taking place during acclimatization to the new conditions. It has been proposed to utilize a combined genetic-morphological approach in order to enhance the species identification of found invaders. Collected material can be used in the development of control methods, as well as for suppressing the abundance of dangerous or undesirable invasive species

Straddling the line: high potential impact on vulnerable marine ecosystems by bottom-set longline fishing in unregulated areas beyond national jurisdiction

Abstract Impacts of Patagonian toothfish bottom-set longline fishing on vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) are examined in a licenced fishery and adjacent areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) lacking fishery management. VME taxa distributions were predicted using MaxEnt and compared to fishing footprints of ABNJ and licenced fleets. The ABNJ fishery footprint was almost twice as large as in licenced waters. Whilst the footprint of low fishing effort (0.0–3.4 h km−2) was similar between areas, footprints of medium (3.4–10.2 h km−2) and high (10.2–45.3 h km−2) fishing effort were 4 and 13 times greater, respectively, in ABNJ. Percent overlap of licenced fishing distribution on VME indicator taxa groups was low (6.45–9.82%) compared to the considerably higher (32.62–61.99%) percentage fishing overlap on VME indicator distribution in ABNJ. Our results show that, despite the main area of VME indicator taxa being found within jurisdictional waters, there are important VME habitats on the adjacent high-seas that are potentially highly impacted by unregulated fishing. This raises concerns regarding the potential for ABNJ fisheries to undermine domestic VME management where VMEs straddle managed areas and areas that are inconsistently managed or unmanaged. Management of VMEs would benefit from strengthening regional high-seas fishing governance and monitoring procedures.

Carbon leakage in energy/forest sectors and climate policy implications using meta-analysis

Carbon leakage, a shift of carbon emissions from a region with emission constraint to unregulated areas, has been a great concern in energy-related industries and the forest sector. Carbon leakage may weaken the effectiveness of regional climate policies. This study aims to identify the drivers of carbon leakage and provide policy implications to mitigate carbon leakage using meta-regression. A total of 46 studies are collected, which provide 230 estimates of carbon leakage. Results show that (i) the forest sector has larger carbon leakage of 39.6%; (ii) substitution degree increases carbon leakage, but it is not statistically significant; (iii) contrary to popular belief, coalition size is not always negatively related to carbon leakage; (iv) local economic conditions are key drivers of carbon leakage; and (v) carbon leakage is overestimated in the forest sector by 41.42% when ignoring agricultural expansion through the land use change. Results also support the following policy implications: (i) the global agreement, which requires the participation of poorer regions and countries, may effectively reduce carbon leakage; (ii) a mature worldwide carbon trading market with relatively high carbon prices can attract more participants; and (iii) a long-term and integrated land-use planning will be an effective way to reduce carbon leakage caused by agricultural expansion.

Subsurface Tension

A recent oil boom in Southern New Mexico has resulted in increased hydraulic fracturing operations in the region and, as a result, a steady and reliable supply of water to fuel such operations is required. As New Mexico regulations make it difficult to acquire a steady supply of water within the state, oil and natural gas producers are turning to unregulated areas in Texas, which permit unlimited pumping of groundwater. However, this groundwater is being pumped from the Pecos Valley aquifer, which is the same source of water that New Mexico is regulating within its borders. This issue is only one in a series of interstate water feuds between the two states. This Comment identifies the current practice of groundwater imports from Texas into New Mexico and the methods New Mexico might employ to limit or prevent such imports. Additionally, this Comment discusses an interstate compact as an alternative to New Mexico attempting to regulate water imports, which would undoubtedly lead to extensive litigation.

Edukacja uczniów migrujących w perspektywie miejskiej polityki integracyjnej w Gdańsku

The education of migrant students in the perspective of the urban integration policy in Gdansk The education and integration of students having experienced migration is a challenge for European education systems. The aim of the study was to identify the rules, technologies and institutional practices used by entities implementing local government integration policies and its recipients − parents and children. The municipal integration policy in Gdańsk complements the unregulated areas in the system of supporting the education of migrant students. The results of the study show, on the example of a group of immigrant youth, their teachers and parents, what impact local public policies may have on creating opportunities to redefine the situation of immigrants and equalize their chances for educational achievement and social mobility.

Waterborne diseases in waste pickers of Estrutural, Brazil, the second largest open-air dumpsite in world

Brazil was home to the second largest open-air dump in the world, Estrutural, which officially closed in January of 2018; however, many dumpsites throughout the country continue to operate informally. Prior to government-recognized closure, there were about 1200 waste pickers working at the dump. These workers were subject to a myriad of occupational and environmental risks; one primary hazard involved exposure to contaminated water, which significantly affects health and quality of life. As part of the official closure plan for Estrutural, a study was conducted to determine the occurrence of waterborne diseases and rates of intestinal worms among the workers. A convergent parallel mixed methods approach, using a cross-sectional study and semi-structured interviews, sought to uncover answers to these objectives. There were 1025 waste pickers used in this study. Data confirmed waste pickers experienced continuous bouts of waterborne disease cases through episodic diarrhea (24.9%), intestinal worms (12.6%), hepatitis A (1.7%) and leptospirosis (0.7%). People who lived in unregulated areas (favelas) had increased risk of diarrhea (OR = 1.72) and those who did not use filtered water were at increased risk of intestinal worms (OR = 1.87) and diarrhea (OR = 1.5). Qualitative and quantitative data confirmed that many workers suffered from waterborne diseases, and that women were at greater risk than men. These findings highlight unsanitary and poor occupational health conditions for waste pickers at dumpsites, which likely continue despite official dumpsite closures. Moreover, this data provide evidence of supplemental occupational hazards to assess at dumpsites worldwide, especially for women.

МОРАЛЬНІ ТА ПРАВОВІ НОРМИ, ЯК РЕГУЛЯТОРИ МІСТОБУДІВНИХ ВІДНОСИН В УКРАЇНІ

The article examines the influence of non-material factors (morality and law) on city-building relations, which ensure the organization and ordering of social relations. The need to reconcile the needs and interests of an individual on the one hand and groups of people from the other condition the consideration of law and morality in urban planning. The emphasis is placed on the fact that the process of a civilization organization, among all other features, is characterized by the phenomenon of urbanization. Creating and developing cities is the key to the development of society and the form of satisfaction of certain types of material goods. Legal regulation – is the right to social relations with the help of certain legal means, first of all, the rules of law. In the conditions of formation in Ukraine of the foundations of a legal state, the role and importance of legal regulation of urban development law becomes of particular relevance. In the context of our study it is worth paying attention to a number of common features in the regulation of legislation in the field of urban planning and public relations. It is believed that legal regulation does not apply to those spheres of social existence that are not subject to external control. In these conditions, the categories of morality and law, being closely interconnected, affect the consciousness of the person who is the final customer and the object on which the city-building relations are directed. The consideration of categories of morality and law in the process of urban development is important given that they are examples of customary and written norms that vary in different ways in urban planning legislation, regulate land relations, planning and building up areas. Urban planning legislation, its main disadvantage is the unregulated areas of influence at the state, regional and local levels. Actually the lack of legislative provision in the field of urban planning, makes the adoption of a major array of decisions at the local level.It was established that legal regulation applies to all social relations, including the sphere of city-planning legislation, but at the same time law is not able to subordinate certain types of social relations of people to its requirements, whereas morality, provides an individual approach to each legal norm. Determining the influence of moral norms on urban planning is conditioned by the fact that the urban area is primarily related to land use, and the land is the main blessing and property of man, especially Ukrainian.Non-material factors such as law and morality are key in the process of shaping city-building legislation in the 21st century, and their inclusion in urban planning activities will allow for the formation of a harmonious urban environment that will take into account not only the practical needs of man but also the spiritual, ecological, etc.

Investment Protection in Disputed Maritime Areas

Abstract Disputed maritime areas are often sources of valuable natural resources, but they are also often sources of conflict. It is thus important for investors investing in such areas to know the array of investment protection mechanisms available to them. This article examines four such mechanisms (dispute settlement under international investment agreements (IIAs), dispute settlement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), dispute settlement under contracts, and political risk insurance) in the context of three scenarios of disputed maritime areas (unregulated areas, joint development areas, and provisionally delimited areas). It concludes that dispute settlement under IIAs and UNCLOS face significant obstacles not only on jurisdiction and admissibility, but also on the merits. As a result, the most practical solution for investors is to rely on dispute settlement under contracts or political risk insurance to protect their investments.

Analiza travnih površina naselja Dorćol u Beogradu

This paper analyzes the presence of plant species, invasive and potentially invasive plant species in lawns of housing Dorćol residential areas in Belgrade. In the research at seven localities of this settlement 72 plant species were recorded. Out of that number, 11 plant species (15.30%) were characterised as invasive and potentially invasive. Conducted research has shown that lawns of Dorćol residential areas are significant corridor of potential spread of present invasive plant species, according to proximity of neglected and unregulated areas of the Danube River. Care and maintenance measure applied in lawns of residential areas are at a lower level than required. This conclusion was made at the fact that in the analyzed lawns is the high presence of the plants which are not a part of seed mixture as far as the presence of invasive plant species.

Undertaking recreational trespass: urban exploration and infiltration

Urban exploration is a practice of researching, rediscovering and physically exploring temporary, obsolete, abandoned, derelict and infrastructural areas within built environments without permission to do so. Drawing from four years of ethnographic research with a group of urban explorers in the United Kingdom who undertook increasingly brazen forays into off‐limits architecture, this paper argues that while urban exploration can be connected to earlier forms of critical spatial engagement, the movement also speaks to the current political moment in unique ways. Urban explorers are one of many groups reacting to increased surveillance and control over urban space, playfully probing boundaries and weaknesses in urban security in a search for bizarre, beautiful and unregulated areas where they can build personal relationships to places. The results of this research both complement and complicate recent work within geography around issues of surveillance, subversion, urban community building and critical engagement with cities.

Do Parties Matter? Party Affiliation and Fiscal Behavior in Brazilian Municipalities

What is the importance of political parties for the fiscal behavior of subnational governments in Brazil? Existing studies have found little or no effect of political affiliation on spending patterns. We argue that the nonresults are due to methodological limitations, case selection, and an inappropriate understanding of the budget process at the local level. In particular, existing studies (i) focus on state level politics, ignoring substantial variation at the municipal level, (ii) use pooled regression designs, ignoring political budget cycles and incumbency effects, and (iii) focus on parts of the state budgets concerned with social policies that are regulated by federal legislation. We improve on these studies by using changes in mayoral party affiliation across all 5500 municipalities to estimate the partisan effect on fiscal behavior in both federally regulated and unregulated budget areas.

New myths about English

Keywords: MythsEnglish grammarTerminal prepositionsTable and figure titlesStarting sentences with digitsWriting dates