Connecting the resource nexus to basic urban service provision – with focus on water-energy interactions in New York City

Urban water and energy systems are crucial for sustainably meeting basic service demands in cities. This paper proposes and applies a technology-independent “reference resource-to-service system” framework for concurrent evaluation of urban water and energy system interventions and their ‘nexus’ or ‘interlinkages’. In a concrete application, data that approximate New York City conditions are used to evaluate a limited set of interventions in the residential sector, spanning from low-flow toilet shifts to extensive green roof installations. Results indicate that interventions motivated primarily by water management goals can considerably reduce energy use and contribute to mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. Similarly, energy efficiency interventions can considerably reduce water use in addition to lowering emissions. However, interventions yielding the greatest reductions in energy use and emissions are not necessarily the most water conserving ones, and vice versa. Useful further research, expanding the present analysis should consider a broader set of resource interactions, towards a full climate, land, energy and water (CLEW) nexus approach. Overall, assessing the impacts, trade-offs and co-benefits from interventions in one urban resource system on others also holds promise as support for increased resource efficiency through integrated decision making

Soil natural capital quantification by the stock adequacy method

AbstractA method is presented for assessing soil natural capital based on the principles of land evaluation. Policymakers are adopting concepts of flows of ecosystem services, and the natural capital stocks that support them, to provide more integrated analyses of the trade-offs between environmental, economic, social and cultural outcomes from land use. Soil is frequently overlooked in these analyses. Techniques are needed to quantify and map soil natural capital and their potential to provide ecosystem services to enable the soil science community to more effectively engage with decision-makers. To support this engagement, these techniques need to use available soil survey maps and databases to provide extensive geographic coverage of soil natural capital estimates. The method presented estimates the adequacy of soil natural capital stocks to support the soil processes behind the provision of ecosystem services under a specific land use. A stock adequacy index estimates the degree to which the provision of services is limited by soil natural capital stocks or advantaged by a stock surplus under a given land use. Reference values are derived from a curve of the response of the provision of the service to key soil stocks for a specified land use. These curves are determined from land evaluation and soil quality literature, or by modelling. The method is essentially an extension of land evaluation in which the evaluations are calibrated using an ecosystem approach. The output indices provide information about potential ecosystem services provision, land-use suitability, soil resource use efficiency, and environmental performance. Outputs from the method are demonstrated for a range of soils under pastoral dairy land use in Wairarapa, New Zealand

Assessment of ecological and economic efficiency of agricultural lands preservation

The article substantiates the necessity to define and generalize the criteria for assessing the ecological and economic efficiency of using agricultural lands. Due to the transition of the agro-industrial complex to private forms of management, the problems of forming a strategy of rational, ecologically safe and sustainable development of land use in Ukrainian agriculture became of paramount importance. Therefore, systematic studies on the assessment of the ecological and economic efficiency of the agricultural land use need to be conducted. Harmonization of ecological and economic interests is of particular importance in the context of ensuring the conservation, resource-saving and reproductive nature of the agricultural land exploitation.A scientific study found that in Ukraine, the agrarian sector of the economy provides about 47% of GDP, but the question arises: At what price are these achievements given to us? Agricultural land development exceeds environmentally sound standards. Excessive cultivation of the territory leads to an annual increase of eroded lands by 80-90 thousand hectares. Land use is recognized as environmentally unstable, and there is a steady tendency to deteriorate the quality of soil. Each second hectare of cultivated land is erosion-hazardous, that is, these soils are subject to water and wind erosion. In this regard, it is recommended to introduce the world-wide experience of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA), which provides an opportunity to provide food security to the country and to limit the negative impact of the environment, based on the introduction of organic production.It is proved that regardless of the size of farms and forms of management using resource-saving no-till technologies, enterprises received low cost of grown products, providing profitable activities. Ecological compatibility of the technology provides energy savings of at least 30% in comparison with traditional farming systems, the accumulation of not less than 30-40% of plant residues on the soil surface after harvesting of the predecessor, provides protection of the soil from wind and water erosion by minimizing the amount and depth of technological operations.It is confirmed that the most widespread evaluation of the agricultural lands use is the evaluation of the results of their use through volumes of gross and commodity products, income, and production profitability. The criteria for the environmental effectiveness of agricultural land use should be: the degree of functional use of land resources, ecological stability, the level of anthropogenic loading, the degree of erosional feature of land, etc.According to the study results, it was established that one of the main areas of agriculture is the application of minimal tillage in crop rotation, i.e. resource-saving no-till technology.The economic feasibility of technologies based on the use of different soil tillage systems has been confirmed

Resource and Environmental Impacts of Resource-Efficiency Measures Applied to Electronic Products

Natural resources such as ecosystems, land, water and metals underpin the functioning of economies and human well-being, and are becoming increasingly scarce due to growth in population and affluence. Metals are increasingly demanded for their specific properties as modern technology develops. The dependence on metals is of growing concern due to the environmental impacts related, for example, to energy use and local impacts from mining, as well as the scarcity risks posed by socio-economic, geological and geopolitical constraints.Thus, there is a clear need to use metals and other natural resources more efficiently. The vision of a circular economy has been proposed as a way to do this, for example by improving durability, reusing, repairing and recycling. Such so-called resource-efficiency (RE) measures are commonly assumed to be environmentally beneficial, although the evidence is not plentiful. It is plausible that focusing on recirculating products and materials could shift burdens to other environmental impacts or life cycle stages. It has therefore been argued that a life cycle-based approach, such as in life cycle assessment (LCA), is useful to critically assess the environmental implications of RE measures. LCA aims to quantify the environmental impacts of products over their entire life cycles - from cradle to grave - assessing a wide range of impacts such as toxicity, climate change and metal resource use. For metal resource use, however, there are a number of perspectives as to what constitutes the actual environmental problem. These perspectives are represented in a variety of life cycle impact assessment methods (LCIA) which have previously been shown to give diverging results. Electronic products are emblematic of metal resource use challenges since they deploy a broad spectrum of scarce metals. This thesis aims to provide knowledge on the potential for RE measures to reduce the environmental impacts of electronic products, by addressing the following research questions: (1) What resource-efficiency measures result in reduced potential environmental impacts and resource use – for what types of products and under what conditions? (2) How does extended use of electronic products through design for increased technical lifetime, reuse and repair affect environmental impacts, particularly metal resource use? (3) How does the application of different LCIA methods for metal resource use influence interpretations of resource-efficiency measures applied to electronic products? This thesis builds on three appended papers which are all based on comparative assessments of resource efficiency, studied as resource use and environmental impacts per function delivered, using LCA and material flow analysis. The results indicate that extended use of electronic products through increasing technical lifetimes, reusing and repairing, is generally resource-efficient. Exceptions may occur, however, if extended use is insufficient to motivate impacts from producing more durable products or spare parts. Use extension of electronic products leads to resource efficiency in two distinct ways: through the intended use extension and by increasingly steering material flows into recycling. Further resource efficiency could be realised by combining RE measures over the entire life cycles of products. With regards to metal resource use, the choice of LCIA method can influence the interpretation of the results of RE measures for electronic products. Therefore, it is advisable to use several complementary LCIA methods to minimise the risks of overlooking potentially important resources issues. Furthermore, better understanding and transparency of such issues is valuable in order to provide more comprehensive information to decision-makers

Assessing Devolution in the Canadian North: A Case Study of the Yukon Territory

Despite a rich literature on the political and constitutional development of the Canadian territorial North, few scholars have examined the post-devolution environment in Yukon. This lacuna is surprising since devolution is frequently cited as being crucial to the well-being of Northerners, leading both the Government of Nunavut and the Government of the Northwest Territories to lobby the federal government to devolve lands and resources to them. This paper provides an updated historical account of devolution in Yukon and assesses its impact on the territory since 2003. Relying mainly on written resources and 16 interviews with Aboriginal, government, and industry officials in the territory, it highlights some broad effects of devolution and specifically analyzes the processes of obtaining permits for land use and mining. Our findings suggest that devolution has generally had a positive effect on the territory, and in particular has led to more efficient and responsive land use and mining permit processes

Assessing the Direct Economic Effects of Reallocating Irrigation Water to Alternative Uses: Concepts and an Application

Irrigation water reallocations are playing an increasingly important role in both developed and developing countries. With growing urban and environmental water demands, rising costs for the development of new water supplies, and irrigated agriculture usually including the least economically valuable use of water, transfers of irrigation water to alternative uses are increasing. However, such reallocations are often controversial, and it is often questioned whether the benefits resulting from these transactions are large enough to outweigh the associated costs. This paper reviews the experience with irrigation water transfers, including the involvement of the World Bank. It discusses the problems of assessing the direct economic effects of reallocations, with a focus on the foregone direct benefits in irrigated agriculture. Because foregone direct benefits cannot easily be directly observed, they need to be estimated. However, assessments have shown widely differing estimates -- even when the same methodology was used. The paper reviews the methodologies and model specifications used for estimating foregone direct benefits; illustrates the impact of different model specifications on the magnitude of estimates of foregone direct benefits based on an application in an example case; and draws conclusions with regard to future efforts in assessing reallocation effects, including calculating adequate compensation for farmers. Because estimating the direct benefits of irrigation expansion is methodologically equivalent to estimating foregone direct benefits from reduced irrigation water supplies, the findings have implications for a broader range of water allocation decisions

Assessing Scotland's Progress on the Environmental Agenda

For good reasons the environment has a high political profile in Scotland. This report is concerned with three important components of the environmental agenda and the way in which they are being taken forward by the responsible authorities in Scotland. The delivery of environmental outcomes on agricultural land by means of a range of current policies, including agri-environment schemes, cross-compliance conditions on direct payments to farmers and implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive.The selection and management of a new network of Marine Protected Areas.Policy measures designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to mitigate climate change.Each of these topics is addressed individually in three separate chapters, aiming to identify some of the leading questions and the policy responses that have been adopted. The progress that is being made in meeting the objectives and aspirations set out in legislation and other key policy documents is then considered. Some of the objectives under review are determined entirely by the Government and by more local authorities in Scotland. Others arise primarily from obligations under EU legislation

Factors influencing the context and principles of ecosystem management

The earth\u27s population has grown eleven-fold in the last 300 years, therefore there are fewer resources and less space available for each individual, living thing: hence the biodiversity crisis. Human use of resources has increased at a greater rate than population growth. Agricultural and natural resources use and efficiency gains will be required to stop ecosystem degradation. All ecosystems have biological and physical limits, are complex and interconnected in space and time, are constantly changing in only partially predictable ways, and are renewable. Sustainable development, though a nebulous statement of intent, affirms maintaining healthy, productive land and natural resources. Ecosystem management can be defined as the process of seeking to produce (i.e., restore, sustain or enhance) desired conditions, uses, and values of complex communities or organisms that work together with their environments as integrated units. The working guidelines for implementing ecosystem management include the key steps of delineating ecosystems, statements of problems, assessing and understanding choices, and acting, learning, and adapting. The necessary steps are getting people involved; working within the scope of the processes; integrating information, technology, management, and research; revitalizing conservation education and interpretation; and, developing, monitoring, and evaluating vital signs of ecosystem health. Biological diversity, the variety of life, is valuable within an ecosystem for ecological, economic, educational, and aesthetic reasons and, thus, its conservation should be included in ecosystem management. To fully shape ecosystem perspectives in land and resource management, social, biological, and physical sciences must become better integrated. By using the working principles of the model known as adaptive management, ecosystem management can develop a new model for the scientific basis of conservation-interdisciplinary teams working with all constituencies to address both short-and long-term relationships between people and the land

Assessing agricultural eco-efficiency in Italian Regions

none5Agriculture plays a key role in providing a wide range of ecosystem services, such as food, feed, fiber and biofuel, thus taking part in the economic development of countries. On the other hand, this sector also gives rise to negative externalities. The eco-efficiency has been considered as a meaningful index for assessing how efficient economic activities are in terms of resource-use and environmental pressures: measuring eco-efficiency provides policy makers with important information for developing policies focused on sustainable management and ef- ficient use of natural resources in the agricultural sector. In this context, sustainable development is now one of the most important objectives of the European Union Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that has a key role in facing the challenges of the new paradigm of sustainability of agriculture. In this direction, the aim of this paper is to evaluate the eco-efficiency of the Italian agricultural sector, as an index useful for emphasizing the dif- ferences among some national geographical areas. This paper tries to fill the lack of scientific studies on agri- cultural eco-efficiency in Italy, despite the strategic role played by Italy in Europe. For this purpose, the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology was used, focusing on the integration between agricultural pro- ductivity and resource conservation, in order to develop a support tool for policy makers and managers. The analysis had shown a better orientation in saving resources for the Southern Regions and a greater orientation in productivity for the Northern Regions. Overall, Italy seems to have a good capacity for sustainable management of agricultural resources although there is still space for improvement. In this regard, the measurement of eco- efficiency provides a useful index for policy makers to achieve better performances in terms of agricultural sustainability. This means that CAP subsidies should be granted in exchange for specific environmental ex- ternalities provided by farmers as a result of more ecologically friendly management with a land use planning avoiding the depleting of Ecosystem Services rich areas, allowing for the achievement of a balance between economic growth and ecosystem protection. Although the paper has expanded the literature on agricultural eco- efficiency, this work has some limitations that could serve as a reference for future studies that can include other ecological variables such as the provision of some ecosystem services that can be enhanced or impacted by agricultural development. Finally, the challenge to realize sustainable agriculture can represent a long-term guarantee of food security as well as societal well-being.openColuccia, Benedetta; Valente, Donatella; Fusco, Giulio; De Leo, Federica; Porrini, DonatellaColuccia, Benedetta; Valente, Donatella; Fusco, Giulio; De Leo, Federica; Porrini, Donatell

Novel miscanthus germplasm-based value chains : A Life Cycle Assessment

The OPTIMISC project received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under grant agreement No. 289159. In addition, the study was partly supported by a grant from the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of Baden-Württemberg (funding code: 7533-10-5-70) as part of the BBW ForWerts Graduate Programme. We are grateful to Nicole Gaudet for editing the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD