Search results for "environmental protection."

A review of hydropower plants in Romania: Distribution, current knowledge, and their effects on fish in headwater streams

2021

Abstract Hydropower is currently experiencing a boom in southeast Europe. For Romania, the number of hydropower plants is estimated to be between 545 and 674, but little has been published about their environmental impact. We provide the first overview of the geographical distribution of hydropower plants in Romania, supplemented by a review of current knowledge about their environmental impact, and present case study evidence on the effects of small hydropower plants on fish in headwater streams of the Carpathian Mountains. We show that 49% of the documented 545 hydropower plants in Romania are located in Natura 2000 or other protected areas, 5% are located in water bodies with ‘very good’…

Trends in scientific research on climate change in agriculture and forestry subject areas (2005–2014)

2017

The term “Climate change” involves an alteration of the mean and variability of the climate properties. It implies unusual variations in the planet earth atmosphere, which causes related effect on other parts of the planet. The reduction in the land crops annual yield is derived from those alterations. The objective of this paper was to contribute to a better understanding of the scientific knowledge of climate change and its effect concerning agriculture and investigate its evolution through published papers. The items under study were obtained from the Web of Science (WOS) platform from Thomson Reuters. A bibliometric and social network analysis was performed to determine the indicators o…

Links Between Soil Security and the Influence of Soil on Human Health

2017

Soil is important to human health because of (1) food availability and quality, (2) human contact with various chemicals in soil, (3) human contact with soil organisms, and (4) disposal of wastes. The five dimensions of soil security each have ties to soils and their influence on human health. Capability is related to the ability of soils to produce adequate and high-quality food and filter waste products to provide a clean environment, particularly clean, safe water supplies. Condition influences the nutritional quality of agricultural products produced in a given soil. Capital recognizes that there is value to the services soil provides in promoting human health, costs when soil constitue…

Agriculture and grazing environments

2019

Abstract The increase in world population increases the pressure on soil resources and triggers land degradation. Agricultural and grazing environments are one of the most vulnerable ecosystems to this process. Degradation affects importantly soil fertility. Millions of hectares are affected and soil productivity is endangered. This decreases soil ability to provide ecosystem services in quantity and quality. Managers and decision-makers should be open to adopt environmentally-friendly practices and contribute to land degradation neutrality. This chapter focuses on the problems induced by some of the most common soil degradation processes caused by in agriculture and grazing activities. Rev…

Performance of Biotechnology Research Spin-Offs: Lessons from Spain

2010

Safety assessment of food-contact paper and board using a battery of short-term toxicity tests: European union BIOSAFEPAPER project.

2005

International audience; An European Union (EU)-funded project QLK1-CT-2001-00930 (BIOSAFEPAPER) involves the development, validation and intercalibration of a short-term battery of toxicological tests for the safety assessment of food-contact paper and board. Dissemination of the results to industry, legislators (e.g. DG Consumer Protection, DG Enterprises, DG Research), standardization bodies such as CEN, and consumers will create an agreed risk evaluation procedure. The project involves pre-normative research in order to establish a set of in-vitro cytotoxicity and genotoxicity tests that will be easily adaptable to food-contact fibre-based materials and have endpoints relevant to consume…

Palermo: Living Labs for Urban Regeneration

2016

The case of Palermo is described in this chapter as an example of Human Smart City (HSC) approach transferred to an extremely weak urban context in Southern Italy. The case focuses on the processes boosted through the Territorial Living Lab established in the city to tackle the topic of citizen participation in the solution of the main city challenges. It was based on a model of incremental and adaptive process of interaction, within a co-creative ecosystem, with the aim of improving housing quality. The model was shared by the players involved in the social innovation process. It would not have been possible without the Living Lab approach and the innovative momentum of design thinking tra…

In Itinere STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT of an integrated provincial waste system

2009

In the paper, the practical problem of analysing in an integrated way the performance of provincial waste systems is approached, in the framework of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). In particular, the in itinere phase of SEA is analysed herein. After separating out a proper group of ambits, to which the waste system is supposed to determine relevant impacts, pertinent sets of single indicators are proposed. Through the adoption of such indicators the time trend of the system is investigated, and the suitability of each indicator is critically revised. The structure of the evaluation scheme, which is essentially based on the use of ambit issues and analytical indicators, calls …

The Role of Fire in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations

2019

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations do not mention Fire as a key factor in achieving an environmentally-friendly human society. This paper reviews the key aspects of the impact of fire that make it necessary to update the SDGs. Upon reviewing the scientific literature, it was found that fire has been part of the Earth System for the last 400 million years, and that it is part of biogeochemical cycles. From a geological perspective, fire shaped the current Earth System. Humans have used fire in the last million years as hunter-gatherers, and the last Pleistocene period evolved with the presence of fire. Since the Neolithic revolution, humankind spread the use of fi…

Forest resources and sustainable tourism, a combination for the resilience of the landscape and development of mountain areas.

2020

The development of sustainable tourism models has been widely discussed in the economic literature. If on the one hand the demand for tourism has grown in recent years, on the other it is necessary to have adequate planning and political tools. The problems of sustainable tourism appear more complex when sustainable tourism involves development opportunities that require the support of the local community and the management of natural resources which are generally common goods. In these circumstances, new management structures need to be created, which can both meet the needs of the local community and ensure adequate management of natural resources. This study analyzes the connections betw…