Biodiversity Offset Program Design and Implementation

Biodiversity offsets are applied in many countries to compensate for impacts on the environment, but research on regulatory frameworks and implementation enabling effective offsets is lacking. This paper reviews research on biodiversity offsets, providing a framework for the analysis of program design (no net loss goal, uncertainty and ratios, equivalence and accounting, site selection, landscape-scale mitigation planning, timing) and implementation (compliance, adherence to the mitigation hierarchy, leakage and trade-offs, oversight, transparency and monitoring). Some more challenging aspects concern the proper metrics and accounting allowing for program evaluation, as well as the consideration of trade-offs when regulations focus only on the biodiversity aspect of ecosystems. Results can be used to assess offsets anywhere and support the creation of programs that balance development and conservation.TU Berlin, Open-Access-Mittel – 201

Reply to Comment on "Critical analysis of a variational method used to describe molecular electron transport"

We show that the failure of the Delaney-Greer (DG) variational ansatz for transport demonstrated by us in Phys.\ Rev.\ B {\bf 80}, 165301 (2009) (I) is not related to an unsuitable constraint that prevents a broken time-reversal symmetry or to real orbitals, as DG incorrectly claim. The complex orbitals suggested by them as a way-out solution merely represent a particular case of the general case considered by us in I, which do not in the least affect our conclusion.Comment: Manuscript as submitted to Phys. Rev. B on 30 November 2010. Sections VII, VIII, and IX present significant details, which enlarge the analysis of the published versio

Geometric model of black hole quantum NN-portrait, extradimensions and thermodynamics

Recently a short scale modified black hole metric, known as holographic metric, has been proposed in order to capture the self-complete character of gravity. In this paper we show that such a metric can reproduce some geometric features expected from the quantum $N$-portrait beyond the semi-classical limit. We show that for a generic $N$ this corresponds to having an effective energy momentum tensor in Einstein equations or, equivalently, non-local terms in the gravity action. We also consider the higher dimensional extension of the metric and the case of an AdS cosmological term. We provide a detailed thermodynamic analysis of both cases, with particular reference to the repercussions on the Hawking-Page phase transition.Comment: 36 pages, 8 figures, invited paper to the special issue "Entropy in Quantum Gravity and Quantum Cosmology" edited by R. Garattini for the journal "Entropy", accepted for publication; v2 version matching that published on the journa

Good Governance: A Framework for Implementing Sustainable Land Management, Applied to an Agricultural Case in Northeast-Brazil

Land management needs to cope with persistent environmental and societal changes. This requires functional governance systems. The purpose of this research is to develop a good governance framework for the implementation of sustainable land management. Good governance theory is extensive, although its operationalization remains difficult. We derived a set of good governance attributes from the literature: (i) the functionality of the regulatory framework, (ii) the legitimacy and accountability of the actors, (iii) the fairness and transparency of the decision-making processes, and (iv) quality control and adaptiveness. These constitute a framework which, supported by guiding questions, facilitates the evaluation of governance attributes to assess sustainable land management practices. We applied the scheme to a case study in Northeast Brazil regarding sustainable land management where biological pest control is considered to be a biodiversity-related ecosystem service. Since its adoption often falls short of expectations, we scrutinized its governance system. First, experts answered our guiding questions, and second, we involved local stakeholders in the discussion of good governance attributes through the participatory approach of constellation analysis. Trust in agricultural consultants and issues of the practical application of pest control turned out to be crucial. The workshop participants requested a model farm to build more trust and experience. There was considerable demand for policy at the national planning level to formulate and monitor the content of the agricultural advisory program. Our conceptualized framework of good governance questions provides systematization for planning and steering the implementation of sustainable land management practices.BMBF, 01LL0904A, Verbundvorhaben INNOVATE: Nachhaltige Nutzung von Stauseen durch innovative Kopplung von aquatischen und terrestrischen Ökosystemfunktionen - Teilvorhaben 1: Verbundkoordination, Grüne Leber und ÖkonomieBMBF, 01LL0904E, Verbundvorhaben INNOVATE: Nachhaltige Nutzung von Stauseen durch innovative Kopplung von aquatischen und terrestrischen Ökosystemfunktionen - Teilvorhaben 5: BiodiversitätDFG, 414044773, Open Access Publizieren 2019 - 2020 / Technische Universität Berli