Search results for " Monitoring"
showing 10 items of 3129 documents
Economic valuation of environmental benefits from wastewater treatment processes: An empirical approach for Spain
2009
Economic research into the design and implementation of policies for the efficient management of water resources has been emphasized by the European Water Framework Directive (Directive 2000/60/EC). The efficient implementation of policies to prevent the degradation and depletion of water resources requires determining their value in social and economic terms and incorporating this information into the decision-making process. A process of wastewater treatment has many associated environmental benefits. However, these benefits are often not calculated because they are not set by the market, due to inadequate property rights, the presence of externalities, and the lack of perfect information…
Quotas regulation is necessary but not sufficient to mitigate the impact of SCUBA diving in a highly visited marine protected area.
2021
Abstract When effectively managed, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) can produce wide ecosystem benefits that can foster, directly and indirectly, local economies. Tourism is one of the sectors mainly benefited by the effect of conservation. SCUBA diving represents an important tourism activity, especially in the context of MPAs, where it is one of the few activities often fostered rather than limited, for its capacity to integrate environmental and socio-economic sustainability. However, SCUBA diving can also produce negative impacts on the environment when tourism frequentation exceeds a sustainable threshold, these potentially generating negative effects on the sector itself. In this study, …
An integrated assessment of the Good Environmental Status of Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas
2022
Este artículo contiene 11 páginas, 2 figuras, 2 tablas.
The role of power line rights-of-way as an alternative habitat for declined mire butterflies
2011
Habitat loss is one of the greatest threats for biodiversity. In Finland, two thirds of natural mires have been drained for silviculture, which transforms open wetlands into dense forests. However, vegetation management of power line rights-of-way (ROW) maintain the drained mires as open areas. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of the power line ROW vegetation management on butterfly abundance, species richness and community structure by comparing the managed power line ROWs to unmanaged drained control sites and to natural mires. The species richness or abundance of mire butterflies did not differ between the power line ROWs and natural mires. In contrast, both species rich…
Assessing farming eco-efficiency: a Data Envelopment Analysis approach.
2010
This paper assesses farming eco-efficiency using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) techniques. Eco-efficiency scores at both farm and environmental pressure-specific levels are computed for a sample of Spanish farmers operating in the rain-fed agricultural system of Campos County. The determinants of eco-efficiency are then studied using truncated regression and bootstrapping techniques. We contribute to previous literature in this field of research by including information on slacks in the assessment of the potential environmental pressure reductions in a DEA framework. Our results reveal that farmers are quite eco-inefficient, with very few differences emerging among specific environmental …
Organochlorine Pesticides and Polychlorinated Biphenyl Congeners in LannerFalco biarmicus feldeggiiSchlegel Chicks and Lanner Prey in Sicily, Italy
2008
This paper reports on research conducted to elucidate the risk posed to the Sicilian population of the endangered lanner falcon Falco biarmicus feldeggii Schlegel by organochlorine (OC) pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), as part of a wider study on contaminant risk to the lanner. Seventeen lanner nest sites were studied in northern and central Sicily. Sampling (in 2005) and analysis were carried out for selected OC pesticides and PCB congeners in lanner chick blood (15 chicks from 6 nest sites) and in two of the main lanner prey species, magpie Pica pica (36 individuals from 6 lanner nest sites) and rock dove Columba livia (10 individuals from 2 lanner nest sites). No OC and P…
Current anthropogenic pressures on agro-ecological protected coastal wetlands
2015
Coastal wetlands are areas that suffer from great pressure. Much of it is due to the rapid development of the surrounding artificial landscapes, where socio-economic factors lead to alterations in the nearby environment, affecting the quality of natural and agricultural systems. This work analyses interconnections among landscapes under the hypothesis that urban-artificial impacts could be detected on soils and waters of an agro-ecological protected area, L'Albufera de Valencia Natural Park, located in the vicinity of the City of Valencia, Spain. The methodological framework developed addresses two types of anthropogenic pressure: (1) direct, due to artificialisation of soil covers that cau…
Landscape-scale Spatial Distribution of the Lanner Falcon (Falco biarmicus feldeggii) Breeding Population in Italy
2008
Falco biarmicus feldeggii is one of the most threatened taxa in Europe. Its global population is estimated at a few hundred pairs unequally scattered in a vast and fragmented area stretching from Sicily to the Caspian Sea. Most recent counts showed that Italy hosts a large part (>25%) of the whole population. Consequently, Italian authorities promoted a national action plan. In this framework, we carried out the first national survey for the Lanner Falcon in Italy (2003-2004). Our study area covered the whole breeding range, i.e., Sicily and the Italian peninsula (n = 2909 cells 10 × 10 km). When possible, we considered also additional information from previous regional investigations (1993…
Detailed internal characterisation of two Finnish landfills by waste sampling
2006
The aim of this study was to characterise the internal structure and composition of landfilled waste at two Finnish landfills to provide information for active and post-landfill operations. The two sites, Ammässuo and Kujala, have been in operation for 17 and 48 years, respectively. Waste was sampled (total 68 samples) and analysed for total solids (TS), volatile solids (VS), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), biological methane potential (BMP) and leaching of organic material (determined as chemical oxygen demand, COD) and ammonium nitrogen (NH(4)-N). The results showed high vertical and horizontal variability, which indicated that both the waste composition and state of degradation varied gre…
Household carbon footprints in the Baltic States: A global multi-regional input–output analysis from 1995 to 2011
2017
The paper analyzes consumption related household CO2 equivalent (CO2e) emissions for the three Baltic States – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from 1995 to 2011. The analysis is based on a multi-regional input–output model, which allows us to estimate life-cycle emissions for all major household consumption items. Results demonstrate that household carbon footprints in all the Baltic States significantly increased by 47% in Estonia, 20% in Latvia and 52% in Lithuania during the study period. In 2011 in Estonia expenditures for housing and utility contributed the highest per capita life-cycle emissions – 43%. However, in Lithuania housing accounted only for 16% of per capita emissions, but foo…