State of Our Estuaries 2006

The 2006 State of the Estuaries Report includes twelve indicators intended to report on the health and environmental quality of New Hampshire’s estuaries. The New Hampshire Estuaries Project (NHEP) developed and now implements a Monitoring Plan to track environmental indicators, inform management decisions, and report on environmental progress and status. The Monitoring Plan describes the methods and data for 34 indicators used to determine if the environmental goals and objectives of the Management Plan are being met. For each indicator, the Monitoring Plan defines the monitoring objective, management goal, data quality objectives, data analysis and statistical methods, and data sources. Just as implementation of the Management Plan for New Hampshire’s estuaries involves the collaboration of many organizations and agencies, the NHEP Monitoring Plan relies on data compiled from organizations that are leaders in the management and protection of the state’s estuaries and coastal watershed resources

2006 State of the Estuaries Report

The 2006 State of the Estuaries Report includes twelve indicators intended to report on the health and environmental quality of New Hampshire’s estuaries.The New Hampshire Estuaries Project (NHEP) developed and now implements a Monitoring Plan to track environmental indicators, inform management decisions, and report on environmental progress and status. The Monitoring Plan describes the methods and data for 34 indicators used to determine if the environmental goals and objectives of the Management Plan are being met. For each indicator, the Monitoring Plan defines the monitoring objective, management goal, data quality objectives, data analysis and statistical methods, and data sources. Just as implementation of the Management Plan for New Hampshire’s estuaries involves the collaboration of many organizations and agencies, the NHEP Monitoring Plan relies on data compiled from organizations that are leaders in the management and protection of the state’s estuaries and coastal watershed resources. Every three years, the NHEP prepares a State of the Estuaries report that includes information on the status and trends of a indicators from the coastal watershed and estuaries. The report provides the NHEP, natural resource managers, local officials, conservation organizations, and the public with information on the effects of management decisions and actions. Prior to developing each State of the Estuaries report, the NHEP publishes four technical data reports (“indicator reports”) that illustrate the status and trends of the complete collection of indicators tracked by the NHEP. Each report focuses on a different suite of indicators: Water Quality, Shellfish, Critical Habitats and Species, and Land Use and Development. These reports are available from the NHEP website, www.nhep.unh.edu. The 2006 State of the Estuaries Report communicates the status of 12 out of the 34 environmental indicators tracked by the NHEP. For each of these key indicators it provides the reader with the associated NHEP management goal and an explanation of supporting data. For some of the 12 indicators, additional information from supporting or related indicators is presented to further explain trends or to provide context for the primary indicators. The interpretations of the indicators in this report were peer reviewed by the 15 member NHEP Technical Advisory Committee and other experts in relevant fields, including university professors, researchers, and state and federal environmental managers from a variety of disciplines and perspectives. Therefore, the conclusions of this report represent the current scientific consensus regarding conditions in New Hampshire’s estuaries

Near surface geophysical surveying of Northern Ireland from the air

A recent low-level high resolution airborne geophysical survey of Northern Ireland has provided detailed imagery of ground radioactivity, electrical conductivity and magnetisation. Although airborne geophysics is usually thought of as a regional mapping method, these results are being used widely for near-surface applications - for shallow mineral exploration, geological mapping, environmental management and for research in these fields. Data have been licensed to industry and have prompted significant inward investment in mineral exploration. Together with complementary geochemical datasets, these near-surface geophysical results support environmental monitoring by regulators. They provide a basis for research in other fields, including structural geology, environmental radioactivity, soil science, groundwater management and geostatistics. Some of these applications are described. The project illustrates the value of airborne geophysical data in a range of economic sectors

Wireless data management system for environmental monitoring in livestock buildings

The impact of air quality on the health, welfare and productivity of livestock needs to be considered, especially when livestock are kept in enclosed buildings. The monitoring of such environmental factors allows for the development of appropriate strategies to reduce detrimental effects of sub-optimal air quality on the respiratory health of both livestock and farmers. In 2009, an environmental monitoring system was designed, developed and tested that allowed for the monitoring of a number of airborne pollutants. One limitation of the system was the manual collection of logged data from each unit. This paper identifies limitations of the current environmental monitoring system and suggests a range of networking technologies that can be used to increase usability. Consideration is taken for the networking of environmental monitoring units, as well as the collection of recorded data. Furthermore, the design and development of a software system that is used to collate and store recorded environmental data from multiple farms is explored. In order to design such a system, simplified software engineering processes and methodologies have been utilised. The main steps taken in order to complete the project were requirements elicitation with clients, requirements analysis, system design, implementation and finally testing. The outcome of the project provided a potential prototype for improving the environmental monitoring system and analysis informing the benefit of the implementation

In-sewer field-evaluation of an optical fibre-based condition monitoring system

A Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) based monitoring system for continuous humidity and temperature measurement has been designed and evaluated experimentally in a sewer environment with high corrosion rates, humidity and the presence of gaseous hydrogen sulfide. The monitoring system has been designed specifically for field use, including packaging prepared for the harsh environment and the challenges of the operation. The system is battery powered and has hardware for controlling the interrogation equipment, power management, data logging and 4G connectivity. Results obtained show the long-term performance, over a 6-month period of non-stop monitoring of real-time data using the same probe. The data acquired was compared to the environmental data of temperature and precipitation for this period from the same location, which showed a good correlation between the expected and the measured data values. The data obtained point to the success of the optical fibre-based sensor system for monitoring in these harsh environments over long periods

What improves environmental performance? evidence from Mexican industry

Using new survey evidence, the authors analyze the effects of regulation, plant-level management policies, and plant and firm characteristics on environmental performance in Mexican factories. They focus especially on management policies: the degree of effort to improve environmental performance and the type of management strategy adopted. They index effort with two variables: adoption of ISO 14000-type procedures for pollution management and use of plant personnel for environmental inspection and control. Proxies for strategic orientation are two indices of mainstreaming: assigning environmental responsibilities to general managers instead of specialized environmental managers, and providing environmental training for all plant employees, not just specialists. Detailed survey data let them test the performance impact of such factors as ownership, scale, sector, trade and other business relationships, local regulatory enforcement, local community pressure, management education and experience, and workers'general education. Their findings are: 1) Process is important. Plants that institute ISO 14000-type internal management procedures show superior environmental performance. 2) Mainstreaming works. Environmental training for all plant personnel is more effective than developing a cadre of environmental specialists, and assigning environmental tasks to general managers is more effective than using special environmental managers. 3) Regulatory pressure works. Plants that have experienced regulatory inspections and enforcement are significantly cleaner than those that have not. 4) Public scrutiny promotes stronger environmental policies. Publicly traded Mexican firms are significantly cleaner than privately held firms. 5) Size matters. Large plants in multiplant firms are much more likely to adopt policies that improve environmental performance. 6) OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) influences do not matter. It is generally assumed that plants linked to OECD economies show superior environmental performance, but they find no evidence that OECD links--including multinational ownership, trade, management training, or management experience--affect environmental performance. 7) New technology is not significantly cleaner. They find no evidence that plants with newer equipment perform better environmentally (once other factors are accounted for). 8) Education promotes clean production. Plants with more highly educated workers show significantly better environmental management efforts and performance.Environmental Economics&Policies,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Public Health Promotion,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Water and Industry,Environmental Governance,Water and Industry,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation

Combining and Aggregating Environmental Data for Status and Trend Assessments: Challenges and Approaches

Increasingly, natural resource management agencies and nongovernmental organizations are sharing monitoring data across geographic and jurisdictional boundaries. Doing so improves their abilities to assess local-, regional-, and landscape-level environmental conditions, particularly status and trends, and to improve their ability to make short-and long-term management decisions. Status monitoring assesses the current condition of a population or environmental condition across an area. Monitoring for trends aims at monitoring changes in populations or environmental condition through time. We wrote this paper to inform agency and nongovernmental organization managers, analysts, and consultants regarding the kinds of environmental data that can be combined with suitable techniques and statistically aggregated for new assessments. By doing so, they can increase the (1) use of available data and (2) the validity and reliability of the assessments. Increased awareness of the difficulties inherent in combining and aggregating data for local-and regional-level analyses can increase the likelihood that future monitoring efforts will be modified and/or planned to accommodate data from multiple sources

Outline of the Finnish system of certified carbon footprints of food products

The basic structure of a system called Certified Footprints of Products (CFP system) is outlined in this discussion paper. The CFP system could produce strict and reliable data needed for generating product-oriented carbon footprints in Finland. Central parts of the CFP system are a national CFP programme, product category rules (PCRs), a chain or actor-wise monitoring plan, validation of the monitoring plan, and reporting and verification of data, and an ICT-system to support data sharing. The system is designed around activity-based monitoring data, and every actor would be responsible for data on its own activities. Linkages to existing environmental management systems are taken into account. The CFP system is still just a theoretical structure. It needs further development prior to full-scale introduction. For the food sector, a new architecture for data acquisition and quality assurance, development of existing mechanisms and consolidation of them in the CFP system are needed. Additional research is needed regarding emissions from agricultural production

Water Quality Data to Support Cumulative Effects Decision-Making in the Mackenzie Valley, Northwest Territories

Freshwater systems have come under increasing stress as a result of anthropogenic activities and climate change. Across Canada’s North, the assessment and management of cumulative effects to freshwater systems remain an enduring challenge to responsible resource management decisions. Recent practice and research indicates a clear need to improve how cumulative effects are assessed and managed, and to bridge the gap between the science conducted inside and outside environmental assessments. Science inside environmental assessment refers to monitoring conducted for environmental assessments and under water license requirements and science outside environmental assessment refers to monitoring conducted for environmental effects monitoring programs. This research examined how environmental monitoring programs in the Mackenzie Valley, Northwest Territories, contribute to the identification, understanding and management of cumulative effects to freshwater systems. The research methods involved a document review to assess the nature of monitoring conducted by project proponents under water licensing requirements as well as the monitoring conducted, and supported, by government agencies for environmental effects monitoring. Semi-structured interviews complemented the review to determine the utility of existing data to develop environmental baselines and to predict cumulative effects. Interviewees included staff from land and water boards, industry proponents, consultants, independent mine oversight boards and various levels of government. Key findings suggest that there are several challenges, including the lack of common understanding of cumulative effects, uncertainty over responsibility for them, degree of participation required among stakeholders and inaccessibility of both government- and proponent-based data. Ultimately, this may be preventing cumulative effects from being assessed, and appropriately managed, in a comprehensive, consistent and systematic manner. While it is evident that a great deal of environmental monitoring is conducted in the Northwest Territories, results indicate it requires a more deliberate approach to ensure that the data collected support cumulative effects assessment and management initiatives at both the local (i.e. project) and more regional scales. These results will both aid in advancing the integration of government- and proponent-based environmental monitoring and be of direct value for regulatory decision-making by land and water boards in the North