Environment & Policy

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Último lanzamiento: 1 de enero de 2024
Serie
65
Libros

Acerca de esta serie de libros electrónicos

A sustainable future: a world in which sustainable development is possible and guaranteed? In this book, the Dutch Committee for Long-Term Environmental Policy, an expert advisory board to the Dutch Minister of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment, shows possible ways in which society can move towards a sustainable future.
The book goes in search of a new social order, an order in which sustainability is guaranteed. This search holds four main elements:
  • signs of hope: which positive initiatives and developments exist which will lead to a sustainable future?
  • transformations: which transformations are needed to reach a sustainable future?
  • philosophical and methodological reflections: can one predict the future?
  • institutions: what are the necessary changes in the basic institutions of society to reach a sustainable future?

The committee has invited well-known experts from different disciplinary backgrounds to check the existing social order from a point of sustainability and to give recommendations for a sustainable future. The central conclusion is that we are in need of an evolving green strategy aimed at sustainability. The contours of this strategy are described and a large set of recommendations to reach a sustainable future are given. As the committee states: `There is no certainty and no statistical probability for a sustainable future, but there is at least a chance.'
The Environment: Towards a Sustainable Future
Libro 1 · dic 2012 ·
0,0
A sustainable future: a world in which sustainable development is possible and guaranteed? In this book, the Dutch Committee for Long-Term Environmental Policy, an expert advisory board to the Dutch Minister of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment, shows possible ways in which society can move towards a sustainable future.
The book goes in search of a new social order, an order in which sustainability is guaranteed. This search holds four main elements:
  • signs of hope: which positive initiatives and developments exist which will lead to a sustainable future?
  • transformations: which transformations are needed to reach a sustainable future?
  • philosophical and methodological reflections: can one predict the future?
  • institutions: what are the necessary changes in the basic institutions of society to reach a sustainable future?

The committee has invited well-known experts from different disciplinary backgrounds to check the existing social order from a point of sustainability and to give recommendations for a sustainable future. The central conclusion is that we are in need of an evolving green strategy aimed at sustainability. The contours of this strategy are described and a large set of recommendations to reach a sustainable future are given. As the committee states: `There is no certainty and no statistical probability for a sustainable future, but there is at least a chance.'
Joint Implementation to Curb Climate Change: Legal and Economic Aspects
Libro 2 · jun 2013 ·
0,0
This book is about joint implementation. It addresses legal, economic and institutional questions which should be taken into account in setting up joint implementation projects and in developing criteria for joint implementation under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC). First, however, before going into any detail, we shall briefly sketch the background, quoting Daniel Bodansky: 'Each year, mankind injects approximately six billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels, as well as a substantial (although still uncertain) amount from deforestation. Since the advent of the industrial revolution, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have risen by more than twenty five percent, from 280 to more than 350 parts per million. Scientists estimate that if current patterns of emissions continue unchecked, the increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide, together with parallel increases in other trace gases such as methane and nitrous oxide, will cause an average global warming in the range of 0. 2 to 0. 5 °C per decade, or 2 to 5 oc by the end of the next century. Such a temperature rise, more rapid than at any time in human history, could have severe effects on coastal areas, agriculture, forests 1 and human health. ' In recent years there has been growing awareness of the extent of the damage done to the world's environment through unsustainable patterns of development.
The Feasibility of Joint Implementation
Libro 3 · jun 2013 ·
0,0
CATRINUS J. JEPMA This volume contains the various contributions that were made during the International Conference on Joint Implementation, held near Groningen, The Netherlands, 1-3 June 1994. The conference was initiated by The Netherlands' Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment -along with the Ministries of Foreign (Development Cooper ation) and Economic Affairs -and carried out under the responsibility of Foundation IDE (Groningen, The Netherlands). Its underlying idea was to bring together an international group of specialists on Joint Implementation (11) - from governments, NGOs, business and science -to discuss its feasibility of 11. The conference was timed between the 9th and 10th session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) for a Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) - which was by then considered as the most crucial phase preparing for the first Conference of Parties (CoP I; Berlin, 28 March - 7 April 1995) - in order to provide additional information or results that might serve as an input in the international negotiating process. The main purpose of the conference was, however, to sit back and have a reflection about what has now become known as 11, and evaluate from the perspective of academics, and practitioners, jointly with officials what promise the option really holds, and to evaluate under what socio-economic and political circumstances and conditions one could successfully proceed in setting out the framework for its further testing and l application.
Environment, Incentives and the Common Market
Libro 4 · dic 2012 ·
0,0
Although economists have long advocated the use of economic instruments in the implementation of environmental policy, they have only recently gained acceptance. There is a growing consensus within the European Union that both Member States and the environment would benefit from the use of such incentive-based economic instruments.
Environment, Incentives and the Common Market has been written by members of the Study Group on the Environment and Economics of the National Environmental Forum, which includes economists and social scientists from all the major Dutch universities and research institutes. The book covers a wide range of topics on the use of taxation and tradeable permits in a variety of abatement policies. It concludes with comments on political feasibility.
Policy Making in an Era of Global Environmental Change
Libro 6 · dic 2012 ·
0,0
Major international, interdisciplinary research programmes are now underway to increase our understanding of how the Earth System operates and how it is changing through the effects of human activities. Although understanding and predictive capacity are still limited, scientists already agree that significant global changes must be expected in the next 50 years that will affect the capacity of the Earth to sustain life.
Governments, business and industry have, therefore, come to recognize that scientific knowledge about the changing global environment - as yet incomplete but rapidly evolving - is becoming indispensable for wise long-term policy making, the goal being to design preventive, adaptive and remedial measures.
Thus global change science and policy making are engaged in a process of forming a new partnership that is taking shape as further insights evolve. Effective continuous interactions between the partners requires mutual understanding: decision-makers need to understand the unique potential but also the limitations of the results of scientific research in progress while scientists must take into account the priorities and constraints of policy-makers in designing and implementing policies that will promote long-term sustainability of life on this planet.
This book contributes in a unique manner to this mutual understanding: It gives an overview of the ongoing relevant research focusing on the two major international programmes, the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme and the World Climate Research Programme. These are described in terms understandable to the interested lay reader. The results of the latest review of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are included. This is followed by an analysis of the response process that is in progress with respect to governments - singly and multilaterally - by business and industry and by public interest groups. This process is leading to interactive structures, assessment procedures and legislation, nationally and internationally. Business and industry are changing from mere watchfulness to recognition of new opportunities for products and processes. Six interviews with prominent figures from business and government circles in the Netherlands provide a vivid illustration of the questions at issue. The appendices provide overviews of methods for incorporating the results of global change science into policy-making and development of long lasting projects. Adaptation to climate change serves as an example. Thus, for the first time, one book describes both ongoing research work in global change and the response processes that the research results are evoking. It is of interest to all stake-holders in the scientific community as well as to decision-makers in industry, business and government.
Product Policy in Europe: New Environmental Perspectives
Libro 7 · dic 2012 ·
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Product Policy in Europe: New Environmental Perspectives presents an overview and assessment of a relatively new area of environmental policy in Europe. Whereas the more `traditional' environment policy mainly deals with individual emissions, waste and substances, product policy is a more comprehensive approach addressing the environmental impacts of products during their whole life cycle. The study reviews the current state of affairs and the prospects for product policy in the EU and Switzerland. It shows the relationship with other areas of environmental policy and the potential role of new instruments and approaches. Four case studies (on paint, batteries, public procurement and eco-labelling) illustrate the barriers and opportunities of product policy.
Environmental policy makers and policy analysts will find useful information and recommendations in this book. It is also written for those who have a professional interest in reducing the environmental impact of products, including marketing managers, product developers, procurement officers and staff members of environmental and consumer organisations, standardisation and certification institutions, etc.
The Climate Change Convention and Developing Countries: From Conflict to Consensus?
Libro 8 · mar 2013 ·
0,0
The climate change problem can only be effectively dealt with if global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can be reduced substantially. Since the emission of such gases is closely related to the economic growth of countries, a critical problem to be addressed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) is: how will the permissible emission levels be shared between industrialised (ICs) and developing countries (DCs)? The thesis of this book is that the long-term effectiveness of the FCCC runs the risk of a horizontal negotiation deadlock between countries and the risk of vertical standstill within countries if there is little domestic support for the domestic implementation of measures being announced in international negotiations. The research question is: Can one observe trends towards horizontal deadlock and vertical standstill and if yes, how can the treaty design be improved so as to avoid such potential future bottlenecks? The research focuses on the perspectives of domestic actors on the climate convention and related issues in four developing countries: India, Indonesia, Kenya and Brazil. The following key findings emerge from the research: 1. Handicapped negotiating power: The common theme of the foreign policy of DCs is that ICs are responsible for the bulk of the GHG emissions and need to take appropriate domestic action.
International Governance on Environmental Issues
Libro 9 · jun 2013 ·
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During the last years international cooperation on environmental issues has increased, especially after UNCED in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The efforts made by the United Nations or groups of states to solve more or less global problems through negotiation has brought up a number of questions of interest for the research community. How are inter national agreements achieved? Which roles do governments, ministries, diplomats, researchers, experts and NGO's play? Is the negotiation process of today effective or would we get better results through regional, national or local actions? How should we understand the interplay between the different societal levels where environmental 'governance' is created? And what constitutes a successful implementation of a conven tion or bilateral agreement in practical policy? The Swedish Council for Planning and Coordination of Research (FRN) has since the early 1980's initiatated and funded environmental research, and in particular for research problems with a focus on the interplay between humans~society-natural resources. In order to get a picture of on-going research with relevance to an understanding of inter national environmental governance, and to stimulate the research com munity towards addressing new issues, the FRN arranged an inter national workshop for August 17-19, 1994 at Krusenberg Manor, near Uppsala. The workshop could also be seen in the context of FRN's long term interest in the issues of 'the Human Dimensions of Global Environ mental Change', including the activities of the Human Dimensions Programme (now IHDP) at the international level.
Lowering the Cost of Emission Reduction: Joint Implementation in the Framework Convention on Climate Change
Libro 10 · dic 2012 ·
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Lowering the Cost of Emission Reduction by Dr Michael Ridley investigates a novel way to reduce the cost of carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide emission reduction. This book asks whether allowing countries to substitute emission reduction undertaken abroad in lieu of emission reduction at home will reduce the cost of emission reduction and allow more rapid and acute falls in pollution.
Analysing US Department of Energy data on US emission reduction projects undertaken in Eastern Europe and Central America, this book explains differences in the cost of emission reduction by method and by country. The book sets out the conditions that would allow a joint implementation system to evolve into a full-blown tradable permits system. Political and practical objections to joint implementation are aired and addressed.
This book is targeted at the environmental policy community, government officials, academics, the NGO community, economists and financiers, members of large corporations and museum educators everywhere.
Drinking Water Supply and Agricultural Pollution: Preventive Action by the Water Supply Sector in the European Union and the United States
Libro 11 · feb 2012 ·
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Agricultural pollution (with nitrates and pesticides) is one of the biggest threats to drinking water resources. At many places regional and local water authorities, together with the water supply industry, are involved in preventive action aimed at farming practices. Three national case studies (Germany, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom) analyse these efforts within the context of problematical national agricultural policy and the need to implement EU directives on water quality. Additional case studies cover the role of the European Union, while the same problem in a different setting is analysed for the United States. The central question of how national and European governments can reinforce the control capacity of the actors at the regional and local level, is treated from the theoretical perspective of the policy network approach.
Co-operative Environmental Governance: Public-Private Agreements as a Policy Strategy
Libro 12 · dic 2012 ·
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New philosophies of environmental management are being put to the test in many countries.· New ideas are needed to replace or at least flank the old command and control approach, which has lost its credibility. One of the most interesting new avenues is co-operative environmental management, whereby public and private parties work together to tackle a problem. It is interesting because it seems to be well suited to handling complex environmental problems. This kind of management makes use of the policy instrument known as the Environmental Agreement. That tool is geared to the development of sustainable procedures for working out solutions. The Environmental Agreement provides scope to deal with some essential characteristics of current environmental problems. Indeed, one of the most vexing aspects of environmental problems is uncertainty, both in the ecological sphere and with respect to the economic effects of intervention. In short, this instrument takes the unknown into account.
Managing a Material World
Libro 13 · dic 2012 ·
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As we reach the end of the 20th century, the question of how to meet human needs and preferences while safeguarding the global environment is a major concern facing humanity. This book reflects the state of the art of thinking on the necessary concepts, tools and instruments that are likely to help producers, consumers and governments to adjust their policies and practices. It covers theories and concepts, practical approaches and visions of industry and government. The book has been written by a team of authors that includes the most forward thinking researchers and managers on the issue. It is a handbook for all those involved in decisions about product design and eco-efficiency, about environment and resource use policies. Moreover it can serve as a handbook for all those who are studying with the aim to become involved in such issues.
Participation and the Quality of Environmental Decision Making
Libro 14 · dic 2012 ·
5,0
It is clear that our society must become a more sustainable one. To that end, we must change both our production and our consumption patterns. Some argue that this implies the abolition of democratic processes, and thus of citizens' participation in environmental policy. Others argue the opposite: the only way to avoid impending environmental disaster is by engaging in common deliberation and contemplation. Is participation, then, a negative force or not?

This volume is one of the first coordinated attempts to study the relationship between democratic, participatory forms of decision making and the quality of environmental decisions. The central question is how can the normatively desirable practice of participatory decision making be combined with an effective approach to environmental issues?

Guided by a theoretical introduction by the editors, the 15 chapters deal with topics ranging from the scale of environmental problems, local agenda 21, infrastructural decisions, strategic planning, to environmental policy in developing countries. Three chapters are devoted to each of these broad themes. Each presents either a theoretical or an empirical argument about the central research question, shedding light on such issues as the measurement of decision quality, participation techniques, and the link between participation and decision quality, drawing on experience gained in Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Africa. The introductions to the individual parts of the book have been collectively written by the contributors, who represent a range of professional disciplines, including political science, public policy and planning.

Regulation for Chemical Safety in Europe: Analysis, Comment and Criticism
Libro 15 · abr 2013 ·
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Many European Union Directives seek to minimize the potential for harm to humans and the environment arising from the use of chemicals. This book takes an interdisciplinary, selective look at the effector mechanisms employed in such directives. It covers the pre-marketing use of toxicology to identify the hazardous properties of chemicals, acknowledging its shortcomings, while contrasting the scientific method with the precautionary principle in developing risk-management practices. The book then goes on to describe the use of bio-indicators, chemical analyses and mathematical modelling for prediction, or to determine the adequacy of chemical safety legislation. The environmental risk assessment of priority chemicals is described and the impact of pesticides on sustainability in agriculture is discussed from the differing standpoints of agronomy and economics.
Audience: All professionals concerned with the safe management of chemicals and their use, including teachers, practitioners, policy makers or legislators.
National Security and International Environmental Cooperation in the Arctic — the Case of the Northern Sea Route
Libro 16 · dic 2012 ·
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The basic objective of this report is to place the debate about the future of the Northern Sea Route into the larger picture of Arctic politics and the emerging agenda of the Arctic as a developing region in international society. National security and international environmental cooperation, are the objects of study employed, both separately and in various conceptual combinations, to realize this purpose. To help me in this, I was privileged to draw on the profound expertise of my highly esteemed co-authors, Professor Franklyn Griffiths at the University of Toronto and Senior Researchers at IMEMO in Moscow: Raphael Vartanov, Alexei Roginko and Alexander Kolossov. To their cooperative spirit, friendship and solid contributions to this report, ( am deeply indebted. The report is the result of multiple contributions, both in terms of substance and funding, extending far beyond the inputs of the team of authors. The professional input and thorough work 'behind the scene' done by Liv Astrid Sverdrup, Researcher at FNI at an early stage of the project, has been invaluable. Senior Consultant Kjell Moe at the Norwegian Polar Institute also provided valuable comments and improvements to the biological parts of the Introductory chapter, whilst Senior Consultant Ann Skarstad at FNI, worked wonders with the language for those of us not having English as our mother tongue. Claes Lykke Ragner, Deputy head of the (NSROP secretariat, and Dr.
Conflict and Cooperation on the Scheldt River Basin: A Case Study of Decision Making on International Scheldt Issues between 1967 and 1997
Libro 17 · dic 2012 ·
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More than 200 major river basins are shared by two or more countries and, together, these basins account for about 60% of the earth's land area, constituting a significant portion of the world's fresh water resources. They are thus both a significant asset to the nations sharing them, as well as a potential source of conflict. This book presents a generic framework for the analysis of decision making on international river issues. It emphasises the strategic character of the interactions between the basin states and addresses learning and institutionalization processes, taking account of the influence of the context on the decision making process.
The case of the river Scheldt covers negotiations on the Belgian-Dutch water conventions covering a number of international issues relating to the river basins of the Scheldt and the Meuse, such as construction projects aimed at improving the maritime access to the port of Antwerp, the maintenance of the navigation channel in the Western Scheldt, pollution of the waters in the two rivers, and the distribution of water from the Meuse.
The final part of the book contains a typology of strategies for the solution of upstream-downstream problems in international river basins.
Audience: All those interested in international water and environmental management, international negotiations and politics, and public policy.
Environmental Politics and Liberation in Contemporary Africa
Libro 18 · mar 2013 ·
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Nowadays, the environment looms large in the analysis of conflict in developing societies, and the precise role it plays is the subject of an ongoing debate. The de bate has moved on from the earlier, but still popular, notions of 'power struggles', 'class struggles' and 'ethnic conflicts', to a perception of conflict as the product of intense group competition for resources. Where the state controls the distribu tion of resources, itself inevitably becomes party to conflicts whose bone of con tention is access to state power as the most efficient means of gaining access to resources. The resources in question are social (health, education, transportation, communication, recreation, etc. ) and material (land, water, housing, jobs, con tracts, licenses, permits, etc. ). In parts of the world, and especially in Africa, di minishing resources and authoritarian state rule exacerbate group competition leading to political confrontation. This is the line I have followed in analysing conflict in the Hom of Africa (Markakis, 1987, 1998). Mohamed Salih's first contribution in this volume is to move the debate a step beyond this line, which can be criticized as unduly materialist. He does it by bringing culture into the realm of resources, not only as a resource in itself, but also as the agency that assigns natural resources their value. Culture thus becomes a contextual element in conflict over resources whose value is culturally deter mined.
On the Compatibility of Flexible Instruments
Libro 19 · dic 2012 ·
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This volume is on the flexibility mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol and summarises the main fmdings of a two day workshop on 'Dealing with Carbon Credits after Kyoto', organised by ETC and the JIN foundation (both from the Netherlands) in Callantsoog, the Netherlands, on 28-29 May 1998. The workshop was one of the fIrst meetings held on the flexibility mechanisms after the Kyoto Protocol had been accepted at the Third Conference of the Parties (CoP3) in Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997. During the workshop it became clear that during the stage of translating the Protocol provisions on the flexibility mechanisms (notably Articles 6, 12 and 17) into concrete action, there are still many questions on how to interpret the scope and meaning of the Protocol text precisely. Indeed, various issues need to be elaborated on before a full assessment of the future practical work - the start of CDM and JI projects and possibly international emissions trading - can be made. Several issues were addressed at the workshop: e. g. how and via which procedures to determine the net abatement of particular CDMIJI projects; who is liable for non compliance in international emissions trading; is there a need for credit sharing formulae; can incentives be provided for early action, etc.
Understanding Language: Man or Machine
Libro 20 · jun 2013 ·
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This textbook is intended for graduate students in computer science and linguistics who are interested in developing expertise in natural language processing (NLP) and in those aspects of artificial intelligence which are concerned with computer models oflanguage comprehension. The text is somewhat different from a number of other excellent textbooks in that its foci are more on the linguistic and psycho linguistic prerequisites and on foundational issues concerning human linguistic behavior than on the description of the extant models and algorithms. The goal is to make the student, undertaking the enormous task of developing computer models for NLP, well aware of the major diffi culties and unsolved problems, so that he or she will not begin the task (as it has often been done) with overoptimistic hopes or claims about the generalizability of models, when such hopes and claims are incon sistent either with some aspects of the formal theory or with known facts about human cognitive behavior. Thus, I try to enumerate and explain the variety of cognitive, linguistic, and pragmatic data which must be understood and formalized before they can be incorporated into a computer model.
Change and Continuity in Poland’s Environmental Policy
Libro 20 · dic 2012 ·
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This book takes a long-term view of environmental policy in Poland, which thus serves as an example to increase our understanding of environmental policy making in general in the former Eastern bloc countries. The perspective adopted also includes the pre-transition period, since the transformation process cannot be understood without reference to the preceding period. The book investigates the driving forces underlying policy changes, both prior to and after the transition, and identifies elements both of change and continuity - topics that have hitherto been neglected in the literature.
A change of political system in Poland did not lead to a major change in the thrust of environmental policy: the policy makers adopted a cautious approach to new instruments and institutions during the transition period. What did change with the transition was the implementation aspect: the effectiveness of environmental policy increased dramatically after the abolition of socialism. The rule of law meant that the state administration and the polluters were subordinated to the legal system, thus increasing the power to environmental policy.
Readership: Researchers and students interested in the environment and the countries in transition.