Integrated environmental assessment: an urban perspective

A broadening of the strategic approach to environmental issues coupled with changes in the mechanisms of environmental governance and management has generated demands for new kinds of environmental knowledge and for new ways of using it. In particular there is now a strong demand for information about the environment to be linked to information about the impacts of human activities so that the unsustainable aspects of economic development can be anticipated and controlled. The scope of environmental assessment has enlarged to provide information that will help a wide range of stakeholders, including business and publics to make decisions, choosing between alternatives on the basis of sound environmental information set in a social and economic context. This paper provides a discussion of these developments and illustrates how integrated environmental assessment of a specific urban environmental problem, the reduction of health impacts of air borne particles, can deliver broad strategic information for participants in the solution.

Monitoring and Environmental Assessment of Seawater in West Central Africa: Case of the Kribi Industrial and Urban Port Complex in Cameroon, Guinea Gulf

This study is the first of a series of a project on the development and implementation of environmental protection policies, before, during and after the construction of the Kribi Industrial and Urban Port Complex (KIPC). The results will equip the State and scientific structures concerned with the protection of people, water resources and the environment as a whole. This includes reference data on the state of marine pollution in the region dating from the end of realization of the first phase of KIPC known as Kribi Deep-Water Harbor (KDWH). Accordingly, the aim of this work is to assess the current state of KIPC and its surrounding by quantifying the preliminary parameters of suspended matter (SM);to analyze the physical and chemical parameters, chemical pollution indicators for anions and major cations and organic pollution indicators of four water samples taken from four different sites in the project area by filtration and weighing, pH meter, turbid meter, titration, colorimetry and titrimetric methods. The analysis of these samples and these parameters provides results which are slightly similar to international standards. This suggests that the environment remains relatively healthy. Hence, continuous management and monitoring of the parameters and pollution factors is strongly recommended.

Research on Public Participation and Information Publicity in Strategic Environmental Assessment

It has been generally recognized that strategic environmental assessment integrates environment and development into decision-making and becomes an important decision-making tool for implementing sustainable development. This paper firstly introduces the relationships of SEA, public participation(PP)and information publicity(IP),then discusses the key parts in enforcing the effective process of PP: They are the methods for how to make sufficient information open (What), when to implement PP (When), who will determinate the public (Who), and how to make the models of PP (How). Six cases are compared and analyzed. At last, ways to improve the effectiveness of PP in China is also presented.

Development an Adaptive Environmental Assessment Method for Buildings

The idea behind this work is developing an adaptive method for the environmental assessment of buildings, to configure different versions according to the variables affecting them (spatial, temporal and associated with building characteristics) to suit different evaluated projects. This method may be applied using an electronic tool, which is in a development stage. Amending different assessment versions of the adaptive method is done by including the variables effect, according to set of steps, such as modifying the formulation of the assessment items, adjusting their estimation weights, and amending their achievement evaluation levels and their returned scores. When using the adaptive method, the assessment result of a building using a certain version differs from the results using other versions, even in the same country, so configuring an appropriate version due to the variables affecting the assessment helps getting more accurate results than the ones currently provided. The main goal of that research is to introduce the adaptive method that is proposed to ensure a fairer assessment results from the perspective of Green Architecture, and allow a more credible and accuracy of results comparison according to the environmental performance of buildings. The researcher analyzed the different main features she used in developing the adaptive method, the Comparative aspects between it and the current assessment methods, and the expected reached advantages from its usage. The paper arrived to the importance of adapting the environmental assessment of buildings according to the different affecting variables, and recommended developing the adaptive method and its tool to the stage of application to benefit its advantages.

Integrated Geoelectrical Resistivity Method for Environmental Assessment of Landfill Leachate Pollution and Aquifer Vulnerability Studies

Leachate plumes from landfills are a major source of pollution in Nigeria, especially in urban areas. Assessing leachate contamination in the subsoil is considered a complex process that needs detailed field measurement to accurately define the extent of contamination. To ascertain the extent of pollution of the subsoil and groundwater sources which were reportedly contaminated by leachate plumes from an old dumpsite located in Osubi town, an integrated geo-electrical method involving 1-D vertical electrical sounding (VES) and 2-D, 3-D ERT techniques were employed. Orthogonal set of 2-D apparent resistivity data was collected in a 100 × 50 m2 rectangular grid around the dumpsite, using the Wenner array. Two years later, three (3) 2-D resistivity imaging profiles were also recorded in time-lapse mode at the dumpsite to monitor the possible effects of attenuation on the leachate over time. Ten (10) VES data were also acquired and used along with the 2-D imaging data. 2-D apparent resistivity data were inverted with Dipprowin software program. The orthogonal set of 2-D lines of apparent resistivity was merged into 3-D data and inverted with RES3DINV program to create a 3-D subsurface resistivity model. Geological models observed from 2-D and 3-D resistivity inversion revealed low resistivity values in the order ρ Ω·m which is indicative of leachate plumes in the saturation zone (pore water). The 2-D resistivity-depth sections imaged low resistivity leachate plumes at the near surface (<5 m) to a depth of 25.0 m, while 3-D inversion depth slices imaged leachate contaminant within the first, second and third layers at depth ranging from 0.00 - 2.50 m, 2.50 - 5.38 m and 5.38 - 8.68 m respectively. Thus, leachate contamination clearly increased with depth beyond the depth of first and second aquifers in the area which implies that available groundwater for domestic use is already contaminated with leachate from the dumpsite. Leachate contaminant-depth map estimated for the second geoelectric layers for VES 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, and 10 shows that the second layer has been invaded completely by leachate contamination up to 6.5 m depth. 2-D apparent resistivity data acquired two years after show lower resistivity anomalies of the leachate plume caused by time-lapse attenuation effect on the observed resistivity of the leachate. This indicates that the leachate plume has become more conductive and toxic to the environment. The Longitudinal conductance map of the area shows that the aquifer protective capacity of this area is weak (0.1 - 0.19 Mho) thus, aquifers in the area are prone to pollution from the dumpsite. The three techniques used in this study (2-D, 3-D ERT and 1-D VES) fitly provided crucial information on the degree of contamination caused by the landfill leachate plume. Therefore, it is advisable to implement an environmental remediation and leachate management program.

Environmental Impact Assessment of Onshore Wind Farms in the Region of Central Greece Using a Modified RIAM Method

Wind energy is one of the most basic forms of renewable energy,which shows an increasing rate of development worldwide and also at the European level.However,this rapid deployment of wind farms makes the need for an impact assessment of this type of projects on the natural and man-made environment imperative.The present paper aims to identify and assess the environmental impacts of wind farm projects in the Region of Central Greece.A modified Rapid Impact Assessment Matrix(RIAM)method is used for this purpose.The methodology includes the identification of the existing onshore wind farm projects in the study area,the appropriate modifications of the RIAM method to respond to the characteristics of the projects and the study area,the qualitative assessment of their potential impacts during construction and operational phases and the computation of the Environmental Performance Grade(EPG)of projects based on the pro-posed modified RIAM method.The results reveal that although there are some slight negative impacts on the natural environment of the study area,the examined wind farms contribute positively both to the atmosphere and to the socio-economic environment of the study.This study extends the potential for using RIAM as a tool in environmental impact assessment studies of renewable energy projects.

Environmental Impact Assessment Follow-Up of Seismic Survey Offshore Activities in Brazil

Follow-up of environmental impacts is an integral part of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process, closely related to the effectiveness of the instrument. EIA follow-up has been receiving a lot of interest from scientists and practitioners, though it is recognized as one of the weakest points of EIA systems globally. Also, EIA follow-up is influenced by the context, mainly in terms of the types of projects or activities and their related impacts on the environment. Therefore, the present paper is focused on the investigation of the follow-up stage applied to the activity of seismic survey coupled with offshore oil & gas exploitation in Brazil. Research was based on a qualitative approach that included document analysis and semi-structured interviews with analysts involved in EIA processes, and sought to generate evidence of effectiveness of the EIA follow-up as conducted by the Federal Environment Agency (Ibama) in order to situate the practice of follow-up in the broader context of international best practice principles. Based on the findings, it was concluded that, due to the peculiarities of offshore seismic survey, it is necessary to promote adaptations in the procedures for monitoring impacts in order to ensure proper alignment with the principles and conceptual foundations that guide EIA practice. Specifically, the timing of the execution of the activity imposes challenges for its integration into the “conventional” cycle that has guided the monitoring of the impacts in the EIA of projects.

Opportunities to Improve the Quality of Environmental Reports and the Effectiveness of Environmental Impact Assessment: A Case of Electric Power Transmission Systems in Brazil

A good quality Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is key for the effectiveness of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) processes and consequently to the acceptability of projects subject to EIA. The international literature has contributed to the understanding of the essential aspects to be verified regarding the quality of EIS, offering a wide spectrum of good practice examples related to the content of the studies. Even so, there is a need for empirical studies that allow the identification of specific aspects related to the context of application of the EIS, which could lead to the identification of opportunities to improve both the quality of the reports and also the effectiveness of EIA. Therefore, the present paper is focused on the quality review of a number of EIS submitted to the Brazilian Federal Environmental Agency (Ibama) to instruct the assessment of electric power transmission systems. Based on the application of the EIS quality review package as proposed by Lee and Colley (1992), the outcomes reveal opportunities for improving the scope of EIA, analysis of alternatives, prediction of magnitude and the assessment of impact significance. Finally, the development and/or adaptation of a similar tool for the systematic review of the quality of EIA reports is recommended.

Establishing environmental background values of selected trace elements and environmental quality assessment of fi negrained sediments in the Jiaozhou Bay catchment,China

With the development of economy,the impact of human activities on ecological environment is increasing,and environmental protection work is important.Trace elements(Co,Ni,Cu,Pb,Zn,Cd,Cr,and Sc)in surface fi ne-grained sediment samples from the Jiaozhou Bay catchment were selected to evaluate their 2015 environmental background values and the environmental quality.Using statistical analysis,the environmental background values(ranges)of Sc,Co,Ni,Cu,Pb,Zn,Cd,and Cr were calculated,being 13.1(10.8-15.4),12.4(8.6-16.2),32.0(22.9-41.2),29.6(13.5-64.9),24.1(13.0-44.6),77.6(38.5-156.5),0.07(0.02-0.20),and 82.5(66.5-104.0)mg/kg,respectively.The enrichment factor,contamination factor,and pollution load index were used to evaluate the pollution status of the Jiaozhou Bay catchment.The environmental background values of most elements are higher than those of the upper continental crust and lower than those of global shale.At present,the pollution in the eastern Jiaozhou Bay is much higher than that in the western part.The results shall be helpful for future management for trace element pollution monitoring in the Jiaozhou Bay catchment.

An Analysis of Supply Chain Environment in Great Wall Motor Based on Life-Cycle Assessment

Great Wall Motor(GWM),a leading automotive manufacturer,places a strong emphasis on environmental sustainability and social responsibility.The company focuses on comprehensively evaluating and enhancing its supply chain to align with these objectives.This evaluation spans the entire product life cycle,encompassing design,manufacturing,packaging,distribution,usage,and recycling and disposal processes.Key areas of focus include optimizing raw material selection,improving product recyclability,reducing energy consumption and waste emissions,and minimizing carbon emissions during transportation.Through these endeavors,GWM not only enhances its environmental performance by reducing carbon emissions and resource consumption but also bolsters its brand image and competitiveness in the market.GWM’s dedication to environmental innovation and technological leadership serves as a driving force behind sustainable development and social responsibility within the industry.

Importance of Public Engagement in Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and the Benefits of Stakeholder Involvement in Project Design, Environmental Soundness, and Social Acceptability

The paper discusses the importance of public engagement in environmental impact assessments (EIAs) and the benefits of stakeholder involvement in project design, environmental soundness, and social acceptability. It highlights the negative repercussions of mining activities in Ghana, including health consequences such as skin conditions, fever, coughs, diarrhea, malaria, and catarrh, as well as HIV/AIDS infection among those engaged in or connected to prostitution in mining towns. The environmental effects of mining in Ghana include noise pollution from heavy trucks, contamination of water bodies with chemicals from mineral refining, pollution of agricultural soils leading to reduced food productivity, and wildlife depletion from deforestation. The activities of small-scale miners, particularly those engaged in illicit mining, have a negative impact on water quality and increase the cost of water treatment for public consumption. Mining operations have detrimental effects on the social, cultural, and natural ecosystems in Ghana, affecting the quality of life of local communities. The study takes into consideration the impact of mining activities on the environment and natural resources in Ghana, as these are vital to the livelihoods of Ghanaian communities. Stakeholders in Tarkwa claim that mining operations have distorted the natural path of the river, leading to excessive pollution and making the water unfit for consumption. Ghana’s economy depends heavily on mining, which also contributes significantly to GDP and generates jobs for a large number of people. But mining also has a lot of negative repercussions, the effects of mining extend beyond the mineralized zone initially explored, highlighting the need to consider the environmental impact at every phase of the mining process.

Quantitative evaluation of air pollution in transport strategic environmental assessment:a case study based on uncertainty analysis and graphic information system technology

Although the impact of road transport on urban air quality has achieved a high profile in China,still greater attention is required as it has not yet been considered fully even in relation to the road network linking cities and urban areas. Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is a systematic and comprehensive process for evaluating the environmental impacts of a policy,plan or program in publicly accountable decision-making. Air pollution has been recognized as a significant issue in most transport SEA practices. The Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Hubei Road Network Plan (2002-2020) (HRNP) was introduced as one of the World Bank's pilot SEA projects. An effective framework was developed to investigate the functional relationship between the road network and its potential air pollutant emissions. In this study,two indicators were identified:emission intensity/ inventory of pollutants and the spatial distribution of the most polluted areas. Because strategic actions are inherently nebulous and data quality is often disappointing,three alternative scenarios were employed to address uncertainties and data/scale issues. Calculations were made using emission models and results were analyzed with the help of statistical tools and the geographic information system (GIS). The results from the project implementation and the feedback from the World Bank have both shown that the proposed framework is effective in the transport SEA process.

Planning Environmental Impact Assessment Orienting Sustainable Development: Opportunities and Challenges

Strategic Environmental Assessment is a frontier subject in the field of Environmental Impact Assessment. In the past two decades, especially in recent years, much more importance has been attached to Strategic Environmental Assessment. The Environmental Impact Assessment Law of the P.R. China which was promulgated provides a great opportunity for the development of Planning Environmental Impact Assessment and brings great challenges for the development of traditional Project Environmental Impact Assessment and Planning Environmental Impact Assessment at the same time. In order to promote the implementation of "The EIA Law", the inherent limitations of Project Environmental Impact Assessment must be identified sufficiently and the theory research and practice of Planning Environmental Impact Assessment should be strengthened as well. Measures should be taken currently to enforce the operation system. The authors wish to offer a few references to the progress and implementation of Planning Environmental Impact Assessment in China.

Hierarchical methodological framework to improve Policy Environmental Assessment:Based on policy layer research

This study explores the current implementation challenges of the Policy Environmental Assessment(PEA),including the implementation of a far richer,more diverse(at macro level),and better understanding of PEA and integration with decision making.The results contribute to the analysis of PEA through different hierarchies of assessment.Stemming from the theory and practice of policy,a concept of PEA hierarchies is proposed including the uppermost PEA,upper-lower PEA,and lowermost PEA.Afterward,the differences of the three hierarchies are interpreted,in terms of aims,principles,processes,and methods.The evaluation of the policy environmental impacts from different lens helps solve the complexities of policies and identify opportunities for improvement of PEA.

Assessment of Minimizing the Environmental Functions Conflict in Buildings

Some building components are responsible for achieving more than one environmental function, these functions are usually of different requirements that can never be done by the same actions, and they are usually connected to changeable internal and external environment characteristics that vary among them. Minimizing the conflict of achieving the different environmental functions is an important challenge for all designers. Achieving a continuous thermal and optical comfort in an internal building space using the same window is an example of this challenge, as they have different requirements that may be sometimes contrary. It should be notable that there are a lot of recent technologies that may be used to find solutions for such a conflict. The Environmental Assessment Methods of Buildings appeared to set the principles of the optimum relation between buildings and their environment, they also could be used to encourage designers to reach the best environmental relations, and award them by main or additional assessment points. The research paper proposes to use the Environmental Assessment Methods of Buildings to assess the building ability of minimizing its environmental functions achievement conflict. This proposal depends on determining the inconsistency assessment items that depend on common building components to be achieved, and then determining the time periods that these items are achieved together within, to indicate the time periods without conflicting. Thus, the paper aims to raise the building environmental value in the assessment when the designer succeeds to minimize the expected conflict of the building environmental functions.

A Model for Environmental Impact Assessment of Land Reclamation

Land reclamation is a complex marine environmental engineering and has a huge impact on social, economic, and physical environment. Reclamation environmental impact assessment （REIA） is also a complicated project, including the assessment of social economic background, ocean engineering, coastal geomorphology, sediment transportation, marine hydrodynamics and marine ecosystem and so on. Nowadays, a large number of land reclaimed projects have been carried out or in the process of construction along the coastal zone, thus, it is necessary to build up a fnmlework on REIA to evaluate and quantify the environmental changes, to contribute to reclamation program, to reduce marine environmental disasters, and to sustain development of coastal zone. This article focuses on the research of REIA framework theory and puts forward a REIA model on land reclaimed evaluation, at the same time, applies this assessment system in Shenzhen City, which is a highly developed coastal city with an expectation of land reclamation. By use of the Remote Sensing （RS） and Geographic Information System （GIS） techniques, along with the topographic map and in situ survey in recla- mation area, it concludes that the area of 2680 hectares in total has been reclaimed in Shenzhen city by the end of the year 2000. Thus, reclamation is usually applied to meet the needs for infrastructure, such as harbors, industries and highways in Shenzhen City. However, some serious negative impacts have been created to the coastal environment shown clearly in the following aspects. Firstly, it caused the dramatic changes of tidal flat and channels along the western coast, made this area more unstable, which is threatening the function of the harbor in this area. Secondly, Tidal prism has decreased rapidly. During the 20 years of reclamation, the tidal prism has been reduced by 20% - 30% along the western coast in the Lingdingyang Estuary, and 15.6% in the Shenzhen Bay. As a result, the velocity of the tidal current has also declined, and the direction of the tidal current has changed, which is harmfid to the dilution and diffusion process of the contaminants. Thirdly, it has threatened the eco-environment finally. More than 147 hectares of mangrove area along the coast of Shenzhen Bay, accounting for 48.8% of the total mangrove reserve area in this region, has been reclaimed only during the short period from 1988 to 2000. Thus, the biodiversity is decreasing, and more and more plants and animals are disappearing. Based on the above analyses of the environmental impacts, strategies and suggestions for the future reclamation in this area have been put forward in order to support the sustainable development of the coastal zone.

Practice and Thinking on Current Planning Environmental Impact Assessment of Transmission and Transformation Power Grid in Jiangsu Province

The planning environmental impact assessment （EIA） of transmission and transformation power grid at levels of 500 and 220 kV had been finished completely in the 13 municipalities of Jiangsu Province by the end of 2012, which played important roles in guiding and planning the following transmission and transformation projects in environmental protection. In this paper, through the detail analysis on the objective and significance of the planning EIA of transmission and transformation power grid, legal basis and planning EIA practices, some suggestions and thinking about the planning EIA of transmission and transformation power grid were put forward.

Life cycle environmental impact assessment of biochar-based bioenergy production and utilization in Northwestern Ontario,Canada

Biochar-based bioenergy production and sub- sequent land application of biochar can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by fixing atmospheric carbon into the soil for a long period of time. A thorough life cycle assessment of biochar-based bioenergy production and biochar land application in Northwestern Ontario is conducted using SimaPro Ver. 8.1. The results of energy consumption and potential environmental impact of biochar-based bioenergy production system are compared with those of conventional coal-based system. Results show that biocbar land application consumes 4847.61 MJ per tonne dry feedstock more energy than conventional system, but reduces the GHG emissions by 68.19 kg CO2e per tonne of dry feed- stock in its life cycle. Biochar land application improves ecosystem quality by 18 %, reduces climate change by 15 %, and resource use by 13 % but may adversely impact on human health by increasing disability adjusted life years by 1.7 % if biomass availability is low to medium. Replacing fossil fuel with woody biomass has a positiveimpact on the environment, as one tonne of dry biomass feedstock when converted to biochar reduces up to 38 kg CO2e with biochar land application despite using more energy. These results will help understand a comprehensive picture of the new interventions in forestry businesses, which are promoting biochar-based bioenergy production.

Environmental and economic assessment of structural repair technologies for spent lithium-ion battery cathode materials

The existing recycling and regeneration technologies have problems,such as poor regeneration effect and low added value of products for lithium(Li)-ion battery cathode materials with a low state of health.In this work,a targeted Li replenishment repair technology is proposed to improve the discharge-specific capacity and cycling stability of the repaired LiCoO_(2) cathode materials.Compared with the spent cathode material with>50%Li deficiency,the Li/Co molar ratio of the regenerated LiCoO_(2) cathode is>0.9,which completely removes the Co_(3)O_(4) impurity phase formed by the decomposition of LixCoO_(2) in the failed cathode material after repair.The repaired LiCoO_(2) cathode mater-ials exhibit better cycling stability,lower electrochemical impedance,and faster Li^(+)diffusion than the commercial materials at both 1 and 10 C.Meanwhile,Li_(1.05)CoO_(2) cathodes have higher Li replenishment efficiency and cycling stability.The energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of LiCoO_(2) cathodes produced by this repair method are significantly reduced compared to those using pyrometallurgical and hydro-metallurgical recycling processes.