A Review of the Eco-Environmental Impacts of the South-to-North Water Diversion:Implications for Interbasin Water Transfers

Interbasin water-transfer schemes provide an engineering solution for reconciling the conflict between water demand and availability.In the context of climate change,which brings great uncertainties to water resource distribution,interbasin water transfer plays an increasingly important role in the global water–food–energy nexus.However,the transfer of water resources simultaneously changes the hydrological regime and the characteristics of local water bodies,affecting biotic communities accordingly.Compared with high economic and technical inputs water-transfer projects require,the environmental and ecological implications of water-transfer schemes have been inadequately addressed.This work selects the largest water-transfer project in China,the South-to-North Water Diversion(SNWD)Project,to critically review its eco-environmental impacts on donor and recipient basins,as well as on regions along the diversion route.The two operated routes of the SNWD Project represent two typical water diversion approaches:The Middle Route uses an excavated canal,while the East Route connects existent river channels.An overview of the eco-environmental implications of these two routes is valuable for the design and optimization of future water-transfer megaprojects.

Maintenance Optimization for EMU Trains Considering Environmental Impacts and Correlations

The complexity of the actual operating environment of EMU trains and the interaction between the reliability of system components have become a huge challenge for the maintenance scheduling of EMU trains. In response to these problems, the evolution of reliability and failure rate under the influence of environmental factors, failure correlations and economy correlations is analyzed. We assume bogie systems form the EMU train in series. The failure correlation matrix of the bogie systems is modeled. With the lowest total maintenance cost as the optimization objective, a decision-making model for EMU train maintenance is established. A dynamic maintenance strategy is proposed for the model, which can improve maintenance plans efficiently. Artificial bee colony algorithm is applied to further iteratively optimize the threshold parameters in the strategy. The results are calculated and verified by a numerical example. The results show the effectiveness of the maintenance decision model. The dynamic maintenance strategy in this paper is compared with the traditional opportunistic maintenance strategy. The proposed maintenance strategy outperforms the traditional opportunistic maintenance strategy in the numerical example.

Poultry gut health-microbiome functions,environmental impacts,microbiome engineering and advancements in characterization technologies

The gastrointestinal tract(GIT)health impacts animal productivity.The poultry microbiome has functions which range from protection against pathogens and nutrients production,to host immune system maturation.Fluctuations in the microbiome have also been linked to prevailing environmental conditions.Healthy poultry birds possess a natural resistance to infection.However,the exploration of environmental impacts and other relevant factors on poultry growth and health have been underplayed.Since good performance and growth rate are central to animal production,the host-microbiome relationship remains integral.Prior to the emergence of metagenomic techniques,conventional methods for poultry microbiome studies were used and were low-throughput and associated with insufficient genomic data and high cost of sequencing.Fortunately,the advent of high-throughput sequencing platforms have circumvented some of these shortfalls and paved the way for increased studies on the poultry gut microbiome diversity and functions.Here,we give an up-to-date review on the impact of varied environments on microbiome profile,as well as microbiome engineering and microbiome technology advancements.It is hoped that this paper will provide invaluable information that could guide and inspire further studies on the lingering pertinent questions about the poultry microbiome.

Assessment of the Environmental Impacts of COVID-19 in Urban Areas—A Case Study of Iran

Abstract The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus Outbreak 2019 (COVID-19) has caused worldwide concern and has affected all aspects of human life. The study objective is to assess and evaluate the direct and indirect positive and negative environmental effects of COVID-19 in urban areas. Collected data for Iran as a case study is presented, comprehensively completing the dynamic effect of COVID-19 on the environment. The analysis results indicate that despite the temporarily positive effects of coronavirus on the environment, such as improvement in air quality (15% - 20% reduction of NO2 in Tehran), environmental noise reduction, cleaner beach and coastal areas due to implementing lockdowns, there are negative short- and long-term effects such as excessive water consumption (10% - 40% increase in Iranian cities), reduce in waste recycling and significant increase in both residential and medical solid waste generation (10% - 77% increase in medical waste generation and 10% - 50% increase residential waste generation in Iranian cities), which leads to pollution or/and degradation of the environment (air, water and land). Moreover, with the global economic relaunching relaunch in most countries in the coming months, it could result in adverse effects such as increase in the greenhouse gas emissions. Assessment of environmental impacts, type and scale, could help for better planning and mitigation of the future pandemics.

Environmental Impacts of Farm Waste Treatment Methods and Perspectives of Valorization by Composting: The Case of the Farm “Sociétéde Provenderies du Cameroun (SPC)” of Foumbot

Waste recovery is an environmental, agronomic and economic asset. The farm “Société de Provenderies du Cameroun” (SPC) processes its wastes by incineration and landfill. During this study, environmental impacts of these two treatment methods were assessed in this farm and a composting experiment was also conducted. For the experiment, chicken carcasses and droppings mixed with wood shavings, straw, incineration ash, egg shells and cattle dung were distributed differently in four experimental composters C1, C2, C3 and C4 with the same starting weight. C1 consisted of the first three waste types, for C2, C3 and C4 a new waste was added in the order they are listed above. The results show that the major impacts associated with the incineration and landfilling of SPC waste are the degradation of the health of workers and surrounding populations, the occurrence of conflicts, and the pollution of the air, soil and groundwater of the site. As far as composting is concerned, the characteristics of three of the four composts obtained are usable as soil fertilisers. Indeed, at the end of the experiment, the pH of the four composters was basic (8), the temperature values were between 24°C and 34°C and the humidity values were between 37% and 41%. However, the last parameter, the C/N ratio, was not satisfactory for C1 (13.42), which eliminated it from mature and ready-to-use composts according to FAO standards. The C/N ratios of C2 (15.71), C3 (16.30), and C4 (18) composters were found to be good for mature and ready-to-use compost.

Life Cycle Assessment:Embedded and Maintenance Environmental Impacts of Social Interest Housing Construction Systems

Characterized by high consumption of natural resources and great generation of environmental impacts,civil construction becomes an important ally to the development of strategies for a more sustainable built environment.In this context,this article aims to evaluate construction systems of social interest housing and point out their participation in relation to total impacts,in addition to indicating the environmental impacts embedded in the construction materials present in these systems.To this end,a case study was selected to apply Life Cycle Assessment(LCA)methodology and assess impacts of the building materials used in a house of a social housing complex.LCA was applied to masonry,roof,coatings and floor systems.The scope adopted assesses impacts incorporated in construction materials,analyzing the stages of raw material extraction,materials production,transport to construction site,maintenance and materials replacement.Concerning life cycle inventory,Ecoinvent 3.6 database was used and environmental impacts were calculated using CML method with the aid of OpenLCA 1.9 software.In general,results showed that the maintenance phase has the greatest environmental impact participation related to analyzed systems.Furthermore,it was possible to conclude that coatings and masonry systems were the ones that most added to total environmental impacts.

Quantitative Assessment of Implicit Environmental Impacts of Construction Projects

Assessment system of implicit environmental impacts was established including environmental impact indicator, resources consumption indicator and energy consumption indicator. The quantification of environmental impact indicators is based on the life cycle assessment system of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry （SETAC） and the evaluation software BEES. Normalization reference values and weights of 12 categories of environmental impacts were identified, and the environmental impact indicators in the phases of raw material extraction, transportation, manufacturing, use and end of life were analyzed. By analyzing the environmental performance of a university refectory as a case study, it is demonstrated that human health, global wanning and acidification are the first three environmental impacts in 12 categories. The total implicit environmental impact load per square meter of this project is 18.448 × 10 ^-2 standard human equivalent weight. Moreover, 97.3% of total environmental impacts occur in the phase of raw material extraction.

Development of a Geographic Information Systems Baseline Spatial Geodatabase Template for Evaluating Potential and Predicted Environmental Impacts for Sustainable Environmental Impact Assessment of Mining in Sierra Leone

Baseline Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of mining projects in Sierra Leone creates a challenging environment for data collection and impact prediction. Application of geographic information systems provides suitable spatial analysis data collection methods to reduce the challenges created by mining environments. This research develops a baseline spatial geodatabase template for evaluating potential and predicted environmental impacts assessment of mining projects in Sierra Leone. It is observed that spatial analysis of impacts of mining projects on the environmental attributes, especially air, noise, water, land, and socio-economy in mining areas is largely unexplored in Sierra Leone. The literature review revealed that no complete GIS spatial data geodatabase collection template appears to have been developed to date to provide an integrated sustainable spatial analysis and modelling tool for EIA and environmental management of mining in Sierra Leone. Therefore developing a Geographic Information Systems baseline geodatabase template for the evaluation of potential and predicted environmental impact for sustainable environmental impact assessment of mining in Sierra Leone will: 1) provide support to the data acquisition process of environmental impact assessment, 2) offer a concept for developing analysis methods for environmental management of mining, 3) minimize the undesired environmental impacts of mining, and 4) give an optimal proposal for data collection and analysis of mining industry in attaining sustainable development in Sierra Leone. Due to the limited available data, a conceptual GIS database template has been developed rather than a database case study of a mining site. No site investigation and data collection were undertaken. The geospatial database template was designed using ArcCatalog, ArcGIS 10.7.1. software, through the following steps: exploration of the general data requirement of environmental impact assessment studies of mining, the definition of the general baseline datasets requirement of environmental impact assessment in mining, structuring of the environmental impact assessment baseline spatial geodatabase, creating the geographic geodatabase dictionary, selecting, matching geographic data with geodatabase structure, designing the feature class and attributes, creating the baseline GIS geodatabase template. The GIS spatial geodatabase template has several advantages for environmental impact assessment of mining including avoiding data redundancy, integrating data into a single database, creating uniformity in data collection, easy to find and track data, integrated spatial and non-spatial data, and reducing the volume of data.

Environmental Impacts Investigation of Irrigation Projects: Case Study of Kanyonyomba Rice Perimeter in Rwanda

Irrigation is an agricultural practice adopted in Rwanda to fight against poverty by increasing agricultural production as a big sector which occupies a central place in the economy of the country. Once irrigation project is made without taking into account the environmental impacts that may occur, it may fail before the design period or may persist with the excessive generated negative impacts exceeding the targeted objectives. The aim of this study was to investigate environmental impacts of an already implemented irrigation project in Kanyonyomba swamp located in Gatsibo District of Eastern Province of Rwanda in order to quantify the benefits and to increase agricultural production by mitigating negative impacts generated by this project. The Kanyonyomba earth dam has been constructed on Kanyonyomba River in Gatsibo District with a length, a spillway crest width and a reservoir height of 210 m, 4 m and 8.5 m respectively. The site observations on land, the interviews analysis and water and soil laboratory tests were conducted to assess various environmental impacts. The analysis of the results reveals the presence of positive impacts including increased agricultural space and agricultural production through the introduction of rice cultivation in this medium. However, this project has led to multiple adverse effects in the hosting environment impacts that need to be mitigated including the increased incidence of diseases in the surrounding population and accidents resulting from an increased exposure of people to the dam reservoir. Moderation of soil acidity, the use of the dam reservoir as a water supply source, the provision of boots and gloves to protect farmers from being contaminated by water living microorganisms and the development of impacts monitoring plan are among the proposed measures in order to mitigate these environmental impacts.

The impact of demographic dynamics on food consumption and its environmental outcomes:Evidence from China

With increasing population and changing demographics,food consumption has experienced a significant transition in quantity and quality.However,a dearth of knowledge remains regarding its environmental impacts and how it responds to demographic dynamics,particularly in emerging economies like China.Using the two-stage Quadratic Almost Demand System(QUAIDS)model,this study empirically examines the impact of demographic dynamics on food consumption and its environmental outcomes based on the provincial data from 2000 to 2020 in China.Under various scenarios,according to changes in demographics,we extend our analysis to project the long-term trend of food consumption and its environmental impacts,including greenhouse gas(GHG)emissions,water footprint(WF),and land appropriation(LA).The results reveal that an increase in the proportion of senior people significantly decreases the consumption of grain and livestock meat and increases the consumption of poultry,egg,and aquatic products,particularly for urban residents.Moreover,an increase in the proportion of males in the population leads to higher consumption of poultry and aquatic products.Correspondingly,in the current scenario of an increased aging population and sex ratio,it is anticipated that GHG emissions,WF,and LA are likely to decrease by 1.37,2.52,and 3.56%,respectively.More importantly,in the scenario adhering to the standards of nutritional intake according to the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents in 2022,GHG emissions,WF,and LA in urban areas would increase by 12.78,20.94,and 18.32%,respectively.Our findings suggest that changing demographics should be considered when designing policies to mitigate the diet-environment-health trilemma and achieve sustainable food consumption.

Reducing environmental impacts through socioeconomic transitions:critical review and prospects

Rapid socioeconomic development has caused numerous environmental impacts.Human production and consumption activities are the underlying drivers of resource uses,environmental emissions,and associated environmental impacts(e.g.,ecosystem quality and human health).Reducing environmental impacts requires an understanding of the complex interactions between socioeconomic system and environmental system.Existing studies have explored the relationships among human society,economic system,and environmental system.However,it is unclear about the research progress in the effects of socioeconomic activities on environmental impacts and the potential directions of future research.This critical review finds that existing studies have identified critical regions,sectors,and transmission pathways for resource uses,environmental emissions,and environmental impacts from supply chain perspectives.Moreover,scholars have characterized the impacts of socioeconomic transitions on resource uses and environmental emissions.However,existing studies overlook the dynamic nature of the interconnections among human society,economic system,and environmental system.In addition,the effects of socioeconomic structural transitions on environmental impacts remain unknown.This review proposes four prospects and possible solutions that will contribute to a better understanding of the complex interactions among human society,economic system,and environmental system.They can help identify more effective solutions to reduce environmental impacts through socioeconomic transitions.

Groundwater and environmental challenges in Asia

Asia stands out as the most populous and geographically diverse region globally.The pressing issues of water resource development and the resulting ecological impacts are exacerbated by the region's rapid population growth and economic expansion.Groundwater,a vital source of water in Asia,faces significant disparities in distribution and suffers from unsustainable exploitation practices.This study applies groundwater system theory and categorizes Asia into 11 primary groundwater systems and 36 secondary ones,based on intercontinental geological structures,climate,terrain,and hydrogeological characteristics.As of the end of 2010,Asia's assessed groundwater resources totalled 4.677×10^(9) m^(3)/a,with exploitable resources amounting to 3.274×10^(9) m^(3)/a.By considering the geological environmental impacts of groundwater development and the distinctive characteristics of terrain and landforms,six categories of effect zones with varying distribution patterns are identified.The current research on Asia's groundwater resources,environmental dynamics,and human impacts aims to provide a theoretical foundation for sustainable groundwater management and environmental conservation in the region.

Assessing environmental impact:Micro-energy network optimization in a Chinese industrial park

Micro-energy systems contribute significantly to environmental improvement by reducing dependence on power grids through the utilization of multiple renewable energy sources.This study quantified the environmental impact of a micro-energy network system in an industrial park through a life cycle assessment using the operation of the micro-energy network over a year as the functional unit and“cradle-to-gate”as the system boundary.Based on the baseline scenario,a natural gas generator set was added to replace central heating,and the light pipes were expanded to constitute the optimized scenario.The results showed that the key impact categories for both scenarios were global warming,fine particulate matter formation,human carcinogenic toxicity,and human non-carcinogenic toxicity.The overall environmental impact of the optimized scenario was reduced by 68%compared to the baseline scenario.A sensitivity analysis of the key factors showed that electricity from the power grid was the key impact factor in both scenarios,followed by central heating and natural gas.Therefore,to reduce the environmental impact of network systems,it is necessary to further optimize the grid power structure.The research approach can be used to optimize micro-energy networks and evaluate the environmental impact of different energy systems.

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.

Energy balance and environmental impacts of rice and wheat production:A case study in Nepal

Energy and environment are the key concerns in todays’agriculture.This study investigated energy balance and environmental impact of rice and wheat production systems in terms of energy ratio,impact of energy inputs to the crop yield and CO2e(carbon dioxide equivalent)emissions under terai and hill geographical regions of Nepal.Primary data were collected from 139 randomly selected farms by using structured questionnaire.The results revealed that the total energy consumption in rice and wheat production were 9.70 GJ/hm^(2)(terai)to 11.78 GJ/hm^(2)(hill)and 8.40 GJ/hm^(2)(hill)to 10.95 GJ/hm^(2)(terai),respectively.The energy balance of rice and wheat production were found 46.33 GJ/hm^(2)(hill)to 59.29 GJ/hm^(2)(terai)and 27.14 GJ/hm^(2)(terai)to 38.52 GJ/hm^(2)(hill),respectively,where energy use efficiency in terai and hill were found to be 7.14 and 4.97 in rice,and 3.49 and 5.59 in wheat,respectively.The contribution of fertilizer on impacts was significant among other energy inputs in rice and wheat production in both geographical regions.The CO_(2)e emissions from rice and wheat were higher by 52%and 78%in hill as compared to respective crop rice(1786 kg CO_(2)e/hm^(2))and wheat(843 kg CO2e/hm^(2))in terai.This study showed that rice production system in terai is more energy and environmentally efficient,whilst wheat production in hill is more energy efficient.

Temporal and spatial variation in the environmental impacts of China’s resource extraction at the provincial scale

Introduction:Over the past two decades,China has experienced rapid economic development,which has not only led to a rapid increase in the use of raw materials but has also created environmental problems.This research analyzes the environmental impacts of resource extraction in China at the provincial level,and fully considers the environmental impact of various resources extraction.In addition,it is the first time to quantitatively study the spatial pattern and evolution characteristics of the environmental impacts of China’s resource extraction from multiple perspectives by means of spatial visualization.Outcomes:The results showed that the center of gravity of abiotic depletion potential(ADP)moved northwest,respiratory inorganics(RI)moved southwest and global warming potential(GWP)moved west.The results of the standard deviation ellipse showed that RI and GWP varied over time and space,while ADP showed a discrete trend.In addition,the distribution of the four in the northeast-southwest direction became more prominent.Conclusion:To mitigate the environmental impacts of resource extraction,we recommend that regional governments implement measures to control environmental impacts in the provinces within the distributed ellipse and design targeted policies based on actual conditions.

Life cycle assessment on the environmental impacts of different pig manure management techniques

The management of livestock waste is an effective way to achieve emission reduction and carbon fixation in agriculture and rural areas.At present,aerobic composting and anaerobic fermentation are widely used in livestock waste treatment technology.In this study,pig manure management was taken as an example,a comprehensive environmental load index was constructed to quantitatively evaluate the environmental impacts of global warming,environmental acidification,eutrophication,and photochemical ozone synthesis during aerobic composting and anaerobic fermentation based on the life cycle assessment.The results showed that the potential values of aerobic composting and anaerobic fermentation were similar,and the order was global warming,environmental acidification,eutrophication,and photochemical ozone synthesis.Anaerobic fermentation contributed more to global warming,while aerobic composting contributed more to environmental acidification,eutrophication,and photochemical ozone synthesis.In addition,the environmental load index of aerobic composting was significantly higher than that of anaerobic fermentation.There were certainly regional differences in the environmental load index,and the environmental impact effect of anaerobic fermentation was low and more environmentally friendly.These findings provided a technical basis for livestock manure management in different regions of China,which was conducive to promoting animal husbandry emission reduction and carbon sequestration.

Environmental impacts of domestic resource extraction in China

Introduction:The rapid development of economy has led to extensive raw material consumption and relevant environmental damage in China.To analyze environmental impacts and identify materials resulting in these environmental effects via raw material extraction,we combine economy-wide material flow accounting and life-cycle analysis methods to estimate environmental impacts of Chinese domestic extraction(DE)during the period of 1992–2015.The relationship between these increasing environmental impacts and Chinese GDP was also explored by decoupling analysis.Outcomes:Results show that Chinese DE increased by 372%during 1992–2015.The global warming potential,abiotic depletion potential,and respiratory inorganics of Chinese DE increased by 195%,46%,and 408%,respectively.In terms of specific materials,extraction of iron ores,gravel and sand,and coal induced the most environmental impacts.The relationship between environmental impacts and Chinese GDP/DE was characterized by relative decoupling.Conclusion:To minimize the environmental impacts of extraction,we recommend that the Chinese government improve its extraction techniques and reduce excess demand for materials with large extraction such as iron ores,gravel and sand,and coal.We also recommend researching alternative materials for scarce resources like molybdenum,gold,and fluorite.