Environment-Economy Integration for Land Maintenance Approaches to Heavy Metal Pollution in the Ruhr Area and in Katowice Voivodship

The present paper synthesizes the results of the Ruhr-Katowice Comparison Project. This research was conducted at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) between 1994 and 1996 as part of an Industrial Metabolism project which focused on the impacts from production, use and disposal of materials containing metals on soils in the Upper Basins of the Elbe and Oder rivers. Using tools of analysis and soil science this project traced the sources, flows, and accumulations of heavy metals. The Ruhr-Katowice Comparison Project aimed at a better understanding of policy options for reducing heavy metal contamination and managing heavy metal contaminated soils. The Ruhr area in Germany and Katowice Voivodship in Poland are the two hot spots in Europe of heavy metal pollution. They have many economic features in common due to the historical orientation of their economies on coal and heavy industries. They differ with respect to environmental policies, however. Pollution has been largely mitigated in the Ruhr area by measures that started in the 1960s while hardly any emphasis was given to environmental protection in Poland before the 1990s. The Ruhr-Katowice Comparison Project analyzed the role of environmental policies from the perspective of soil protection and identified the key elements that led to the historical reduction of atmospheric heavy metal emissions in the Ruhr area. A complementary analysis was performed on current efforts directed towards environmental clean-up in the Katowice Voivodship. This study takes an economic point of view. Economic analysis of environmental policy compares the cost and benefits of different policy options. As a comprehensive empirical cost-benefit analysis is not feasible, an assessment is made based on concept of environment -- economy integration. This notion describes attempts to design policies with proper regard to the interrelationships that exist between the environment and the economy in order to exploit synergies or to minimize conflicts between environmental and economic objectives. Six dimensions of integration are distinguished which represent different, though not independent, strategies to coordinate environmental and economic objectives. Requirements are derived which policies have to correspond to in order to promote environment-economy integration. These requirements are used as criteria for an assessment of historical policies in the Ruhr area and current approaches in the Katowice Voivodship. Based on the identification of the successes as well as the failures of efforts in the Ruhr area and the strengths and deficits of current approaches in Katowice guidelines are proposed for improving environment -- economy integration for land maintenance. The results presented in the present paper are summarized from a series of studies commissioned for the Ruhr-Katowice Comparison Project; they are referenced throughout the text and marked in the list of references. The results of the commissioned studies were discussed at two workshops held at IIASA. The Ruhr-Katowice Comparison Project yielded four main results: first, it contributes to the methodology of assessing policy options by developing and applying the concept of environment -- economy integration. Second, it yields a historical review of the beginning of systematic environmental polices in the Ruhr area. Third, gives an overview of current approaches to managing heavy metal pollution in the Katowice Voivodship. Last but not least it proposes a set of guidelines for the integration of environmental and economic objectives in land management

Crack formation in clayey geomaterials subjected to tensile (total) stress

The paper presents an experimental investigation into the mechanisms of tensile failure in clayey geomaterials under saturated and unsaturated conditions. An experimental apparatus was developed to test specimens in uniaxial tension with the facility to monitor suction (pore-water tension) using high-capacity tensiometers. This allowed interpretation of failure data in terms of effective stress and average skeleton stress for saturated and unsaturated specimens respectively. Experimental data from normally consolidated samples showed that failure under uniaxial tension occurs in shear and tensile cracks form as a combination of Mode I and Mode II fracture. In the saturated range when samples were prepared with de-aired water, tensile failure occurred at deviatoric stresses corresponding to the critical state line derived from triaxial and uniaxial compression tests. When using non-de-aired water and at suction levels approaching the air-entry value, failure occurred at deviatoric stresses lower than the ones corresponding to the critical state line derived from compression tests. It has been suggested that water cavitation may be one of the mechanisms that control premature rupture of saturated clay when subjected to a (total) tensile stress state. Finally, tensile failure data from unsaturated samples showed that there is continuity between saturated and unsaturated states

Learning from Sustainability-Oriented Innovation

This chapter argues that insights from the realm of sustainability-oriented innovation can provide useful answers to the question of why Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) would (or should) become interested in implementing responsible innovation practices. It is based on the assumption that “responsible innovation” and “sustainability-oriented innovation” are different approaches aimed at orienting innovation towards increased positive impacts on social and natural environments. Motivations and influences for pursuing sustainability-oriented inno-vation have been studied in the past, and can provide insights into reasons for pursu-ing the implementation of responsible innovation practices

Beyond the 'Grid-Lock' in Electricity Interconnectors: The Case of Germany and Poland

The common European electricity market requires both market integration and transmission grid expansion, including trans-border interconnectors. Although the benefits of increased interconnectivity are widely acknowledged, expansion of interconnectors is often very slow. This paper gathers insights on the reasons behind this grid-lock drawing on the study of the German-Polish border. Although two interconnectors already exist, the trade is blocked by unplanned electricity loop flows. A third interconnector has been discussed for years, but saw little progress in spite of declarations of support on both sides. Drawing on the existing literature on the topic of grid expansion we identify four hypotheses for the grid-lock: inadequate financing; diverging interests; governance and administration problems; and different actors' motivations, trust and security perceptions. We evaluate them using the empirical material gathered through document analysis and stakeholder interviews conducted in Germany and Poland. None of the hypotheses on its own can explain the gridlock. However, while financing has not been a major obstacle, divergent interests had an impact on the project delay, administrative and governance problems are a great hindrance on the technical level, while motivations influence interstate political relations and policy shaping. EU support and closer bilateral cooperation provide opportunities to address these challenges

Environment-Economy Integration for Land Maintenance Approaches to Heavy Metal Pollution in the Ruhr Area and in Katowice Voivodship.

The present paper synthesizes the results of the Ruhr-Katowice Comparison Project. This research was conducted at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) between 1994 and 1996 as part of an Industrial Metabolism project which focused on the impacts from production, use and disposal of materials containing metals on soils in the Upper Basins of the Elbe and Oder rivers. Using tools of analysis and soil science this project traced the sources, flows, and accumulations of heavy metals. The Ruhr-Katowice Comparison Project aimed at a better understanding of policy options for reducing heavy metal contamination and managing heavy metal contaminated soils. The Ruhr area in Germany and Katowice Voivodship in Poland are the two hot spots in Europe of heavy metal pollution. They have many economic features in common due to the historical orientation of their economies on coal and heavy industries. They differ with respect to environmental policies, however. Pollution has been largely mitigated in the Ruhr area by measures that started in the 1960s while hardly any emphasis was given to environmental protection in Poland before the 1990s. The Ruhr-Katowice Comparison Project analyzed the role of environmental policies from the perspective of soil protection and identified the key elements that led to the historical reduction of atmospheric heavy metal emissions in the Ruhr area. A complementary analysis was performed on current efforts directed towards environmental clean-up in the Katowice Voivodship. This study takes an economic point of view. Economic analysis of environmental policy compares the cost and benefits of different policy options. As a comprehensive empirical cost-benefit analysis is not feasible, an assessment is made based on concept of environment - economy integration. This notion describes attempts to design policies with proper regard to the interrelationships that exist between the environment and the economy in order to exploit synergies or to minimize conflicts between environmental and economic objectives. Six dimensions of integration are distinguished which represent different, though not independent, strategies to coordinate environmental and economic objectives. Requirements are derived which policies have to correspond to in order to promote environment-economy integration. These requirements are used as criteria for an assessment of historical policies in the Ruhr area and current approaches in the Katowice Voivodship. Based on the identification of the successes as well as the failures of efforts in the Ruhr area and the strengths and deficits of current approaches in Katowice guidelines are proposed for improving environment - economy integration for land maintenance. The results presented in the present paper are summarized from a series of studies commissioned for the Ruhr-Katowice Comparison Project; they are referenced throughout the text and marked in the list of references. The results of the commissioned studies were discussed at two workshops held at IIASA. The Ruhr-Katowice Comparison Project yielded four main results: first, it contributes to the methodology of assessing policy options by developing and applying the concept of environment - economy integration. Second, it yields a historical review of the beginning of systematic environmental polices in the Ruhr area. Third, gives an overview of current approaches to managing heavy metal pollution in the Katowice Voivodship. Last but not least it proposes a set of guidelines for the integration of environmental and economic objectives in land management.