Assessing environmental justice through potential exposure to air pollution: A socio-spatial analysis in Madrid and Barcelona,Spain

The concept of environmental justice (EJ) has recently gained currency, both as a factor for and a goal of sustainable development. Its implementation in practice implies establishing current environmental injustice patterns and analysing planning policies, with the aim to reduce socio-demographic inequalities in the negative environmental impact borne by different population groups. This paper proposes a method to assess differential exposure to excessive pollution levels by socio-demographic groups in intra-urban spaces.The approach developed in this paper is based upon GIS and quantitative spatial analysis techniques. It incorporates the idea of an ‘environmental justice weighting scale’ for policy-making, using normative pollution thresholds to measure inequalities more objectively and consistently. Spain’s two largest cities, Madrid and Barcelona, have been chosen as case-studies, taking nitrogen dioxide as the pollutant, and the geographic distribution of six vulnerable population groups (children, elderly people and international immigrants) in the year 2010. The results reveal that a large part of these groups suffer exposure to air pollution exceeding the maximum permitted levels disproportionately, which would imply a case of environmental injustice.     

Application of in-seam directional drilling technology for gas drainage with benefits to gas outburst control and greenhouse gas reductions in Daning coal mine,China

Gas outburst disasters are becoming more serious as the underground coal mines become deeper in China, and a thick zone of deformed coal provides conditions favorable to coal and gas outbursts. The Daning coal mine’s main mining seam is the No. 3 coal seam with coal and gas outburst hazard, which often contains two normal coal sub-layers and one deformed sub-layer. Considering both the geological conditions of the coal seam and applications of the in-seam directional longhole drilling technology, a new schematic diagram of in-seam directional longholes for gas drainage is developed. The two borehole layout models of longwall panel and main entries for gas outburst disasters control have been successfully applied. The gas drainage rates of both models are >70 %, and the residual gas contents are both <8 m³/t, which can be considered that the gas outburst disasters were effectively controlled. To better guide gas drainage, gas drainage normal and failure modes have been obtained. Although in-seam directional longhole technology has been successfully applied for regional gas drainage with benefits to gas outburst control, there are also some problems that are detrimental to greenhouse gas reductions in gas drainage and gas utilization. The three main problems are air leakage failure in gas drainage, decreasing gas concentration and a low gas utilization ratio. To address the problems mentioned above, five improvements are suggested.     

Translating bioenergy policy in Europe: Mutation,aims and boosterism in EU energy governance

Supranational policies move from their places of spatial design towards domestic and local materialization, a journey on which policy programs are subject to multiple loops of translation in various spatial contexts. These loops involve shifting rationalities, historically formed path dependencies and distinct constellations of stakeholders, all of which affect the means of their implementation within national and regional socio-spatial environments. This article evaluates the complexity of governance assemblages based on the translation and mutation of European Union bioenergy policies. As part of the transition towards a low carbon economy, EU member states have been given the responsibility to choose their own approaches within the common EU 2020 renewable energy framework. While EU documents highlight energy security, energy union and sustainability, a contested policy translation process reformulates governance means and aims along the way and sometimes causes the generic targets to vanish. Thus, context dependent decision making assemblages are portrayed as shaping the policy process and the advancement of renewable energy in various directions. The article bundles the empirical results of case studies in Finland, Germany, Estonia, France, and Norway, as well as EU institutions in Brussels to conceptualize peculiarities that guide policy design, translation and boosterist processes in transnational governance.     

Combined effects of particulates dispersion and elemental analysis in desert plants: a modeling tool to air pollution

Multidimensional assessment of air pollution was carried out on trace metals in particulates, desert plant parts and soil collected from the six sites to validate air pollution tolerance index, translocation and bioaccumulation factors. A map indicating the sampled sites was superimposed on the Disper 5.2 software graphical interface to track the particulate dispersion route during the summer and winter seasons. This study showed site-wise orientation of particulates dispersed in the ambient air. Observations indicated the high concentrations of dispersed coarse > fine > ultra-fine particulates in trace metals analyzed from selected desert plants and in the soil especially during winter than in the summer seasons. High air pollution tolerance index was observed in the sequence of Calatropis gigantean > Portulaca oleracea > Citrullus collocynthis > Rumex vesicarius > Bienertia sinuspersici > Tribulus terrestris. Assessment of translocation and bioaccumulation factors labeled these desert plants as hyper-accumulators. The synergistic effect of the translocation and bioaccumulation factor in the various plants and the pollution levels for a given geographical location provides insight management to mitigate air pollution and landscape designers to grow tolerant species and protect sensitive plants from air pollution.     

Moving workers with the work: State selection, key workers and spatial development policy in post-war Britain

Spatial and planning policies in Britain have increasingly become focused on regional inequalities and the creation of mixed, sustainable and balanced communities. Within these new policy paradigms the category of the key workers has emerged as an essential element in the socio-economic sustainability of any bounded area programmes have been introduced to support their needs. Yet, defining key workers is an inherently political process as it necessitates the selection of essential and non-essential workers. Theoretical approaches that highlight state selectivity and the ways in which key policy subjects and objects are identified and mobilised have become increasingly popular across the social sciences and key worker support programmes provide a clear example of these processes in action. This paper draws on archival research to explore the formation of the category ‘key’ worker as an object of government in spatial development policies of the post-war period. It examines how key worker programmes were established to tackle the economic problems of Development Areas. It argues that definitions of key workers were forged in and through particular social, political, and economic contexts and that their emergence as an object of government presupposed and reinforced the existence of different classes of workers and different types of citizens. The paper highlights the significance of such historical work in assessments of contemporary policy and academic debates concerning the changing character of sustainable communities and citizenship, regional development, and changing modes of state regulation.     

Flow and patterns of nitrate pollution in groundwater: a case study of an agricultural area in Tsukuba City, Japan

A numerical simulation was applied to first characterize the groundwater flow and patterns of nitrate pollution of a small-agricultural catchment in Tsukuba City, Japan, for a 10-year period. There was a good performance of the flow simulation. In contrast, although the transport model calculated the evolution of the plume, it only provided estimates of solute concentrations. Groundwater contamination increased exponentially during the first 594 days of the simulation, reaching then a near-equilibrium state. Fertilizer applications are responsible for most of the leaching of NO₃⁻ to groundwater, therefore, shifting of crops and the associated agricultural practices may translate into decreases of contamination levels. A series of hypothetical scenarios demonstrated that replacing grasslands by other crops may reduce the contamination levels up to 12%. As the chosen field is a representative of many other agricultural areas in Japan, the approach and results should also be applicable to similar cases around the country.     

藏南新生代火山-地热区温室气体的释放通量与成因——以谷露-亚东裂谷为例

印度-亚洲大陆俯冲带是地球深部碳循环的重要场所,在全球气候变化研究中占有至关重要的地位。谷露-亚东裂谷是青藏高原南部规模最大、延伸最长的近NS向拉张性裂谷,裂谷内出露新生代火山岩和多处大规模地热区,正在向大气圈释放巨量的温室气体。利用密闭气室法测量并计算得出的谷露和羊应火山-地热区的土壤微渗漏CO_2的平均释放通量分别为436.8g·m~(-2)·day~(-1)和99.0g·m~(-2)·day~(-1),接近具有潜在喷发危险的美国黄石公园火山-地热区(410g·m~(-2)·day~(-1))和加利福尼亚州Mammoth Mountain火山区(107.9g·m~(-2)·day~(-1))的CO_2平均释放通量,表明谷露-亚东裂谷的深部地热流体活动异常强烈。此外,在野外考察的基础上,通过实验室测试和理论计算估算了谷露-亚东裂谷每年以土壤微渗漏的形式向当今大气圈释放的CO_2总量约为1.76×107t,与西特提斯俯冲带前缘的意大利Apennine火山区CO_2的释放总量(1.32×10~7t·a~(-1))属于同一个数量级。因此,印度-亚洲大陆俯冲带是全球地质碳脱气的重要场所。气体地球化学特征显示,谷露-亚东裂谷内火山-地热气体的He同位素比值(0.10~0.29RA,RA为大气3He/4He比值)和δ~(13)CCO_2值(-7.20‰~-0.78‰)在空间分布上表现为,从南至北呈逐渐递增的变化特征,显示裂谷内火山-地热区气体在南北方向上可能具有不同的动力学成因机制。具体来讲,δ~(13)CCO_2值自南向北递增的趋势,可能与裂谷南北方向地层岩性存在差异有关;裂谷内火山-地热气体的He同位素比值高于0.1RA,揭示"重要的地幔组分",同时裂谷内地幔来源的流体组分从南向北逐渐递增的趋势表明,印度大陆岩石圈的向北俯冲作用是导致谷露-亚东裂谷内剧烈的水热活动和大规模温室气体释放最终的动力来源和成因机制。     

A social justice framing of climate change discourse and policy: Adaptation,resilience and vulnerability in a Jamaican agricultural landscape

It is now widely recognized that climate change is likely to have detrimental impacts across the Caribbean region, with the burden likely to fall disproportionately on the most vulnerable segments of society. It is therefore an appropriate time to ask whether the frameworks that lie behind climate change discourse and policy are consistent with the demands of social and environmental justice. In this paper, we use climate justice as a lens for evaluating three prominent frameworks for addressing climate change, those of adaptation, resilience, and vulnerability. Each of these discursive frameworks, we argue, can contribute to our understanding of climate change, but they do not all incorporate justice concerns to the same degree. In order to illustrate this, we examine the justice implications of using each of the three frameworks to assess a case study of agricultural transformation in Southwestern Jamaica. Farmers in this region have adapted to changing climate conditions in a variety of ways, including the use of new agricultural technology. The ability of many farmers to take advantage of such innovations, however, is constrained by the underlying landscape of vulnerability within the region. After interpreting this example from the perspectives of adaptation, resilience and vulnerability, we conclude that all three paradigms are capable of calling attention to climate justice issues, but only in the vulnerability perspective are such issues intrinsic. We believe, therefore, that a greater attention to vulnerability within Caribbean climate policy holds the potential to advance the goals of climate justice within the region.     

Water chemistry in small lakes along a transect from boreal to arid ecoregions in European Russia: Effects of air pollution and climate change

Water chemistry in 280 small lakes in European Russia along a climatic transect from the Kola Peninsula (in the tundra and taiga zones) to the Caspian Lowland (in the arid zone) was investigated from 2000 to 2005. Here the chemical compositions of lake waters in different climatic ecoregions are characterised. Variability in water chemistry within and between ecozones is documented and discussed. The results show that within the humid zone, there was little variability in water chemistry and anthropogenic, geological and morphometric characteristics of lakes and their catchments had a strong effect on the chemical composition of waters compared to lakes in the arid and semi-arid zones. An estimation of the potential effect of climate warming on water chemistry showed that a temperature rise of 0.5–1 °C is likely to have no effect on major ion concentrations, whereas a temperature increase of 2 °C may lead to an increase of approximately 25% in total ion concentrations in the southern regions. Total P may increase approximately 50% in lakes throughout the study area if the average daily temperature were to increase by 0.5 °C. This would have an important effect on the nutrient status of these lakes. In particular, these processes are expected to be most pronounced in the arid zones.     

Composition,abundance, biomass,and production of macrofauna in a New England estuary: Comparisons among eelgrass meadows and other nursery habitats

Quantitative suction sampling was used to characterize and compare the species composition, abundance, biomass, and secondary production of macrofauna inhabiting intertidal mud-flat and sand-flat, eelgrass meadow, and salt-marsh-pool habitats in the Nauset Marsh complex, Cape Cod, Massachusetts (USA). Species richness and abundance were often greatest in eelgrass habitat, as was macroinvertebrate biomass and production. Most striking was the five to fifteen times greater rate of annual macrofaunal production in eelgrass habitat than elsewhere, with values ranging from approximately 23–139 g AFDW m² yr^?1. The marsh pool containing widgeon grass (Ruppia maritima) supported surprisingly low numbers of macroinvertebrates, probably due to stressfully low dissolved oxygen levels at night during the summer. Two species of macroinvertebrates, blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) and to a lesser extent bay scallops (Argopecten irradians), used eelgrass as “nursery habitat.” Calculations showed that macroinvertebrate production is proportionally much greater than the amount of primary production attributable to eelgrass in the Nauset Marsh system, and that dramatic changes at all trophic levels could be expected if large changes in seagrass abundance should occur. This work further underscores the extraordinarily large impact that seagrass can have on both the structure and function of estuarine ecosystems. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** A01BY070 00006     

Estimating secondary production and benthic consumption in monitoring studies: A case study of the impacts of dredged material disposal in Galveston Bay, Texas

We examined the effects of dredged material disposal on benthic macroinvertebrates in Galveston Bay, Texas, USA, while investigating the utility of estimating secondary production with estimation methods that have less rigorous data requirements than most classical techniques. Production estimates were compared to estimates of benthic consumption by blue crabs, shrimp, and epibenthic fish. There was no evidence that dredged material disposal had a detrimental impact on benthic production; however, production was low throughout the entire bay the year following dredged material disposal, which may have obscured an assessment of the impact of disposal. In fact, disposal sites yielded both the highest production estimates and species richness in both the upper and lower bay areas 2 yr after disposal. Of the five estimation methods used, two that incorporated environmental parameters (temperature and depth) yielded similar and moderate results, ranging from 1.1 g ash-free dry weight m² yr¹ to 26.9 g ash-free dry weight (AFDW) m^?2 yr^?1 over the 4 yr studied. Daily food ration estimates applied to fishery-independent trawl-survey data yielded overall benthic consumption estimates ranging from 1.1 g AFDW m^?2 to 1.7 g AFDW m^?2. A second method of estimating consumption, which used transfer efficiency estimates and annual fisheries statistics produced slightly lower benthic consumption estimates (0.72–1.13 g AFDW m^?2). The average consumption estimate exceeded benthic production in the upper bay in one of the 4 yr for which benthic production was estimated. In years with high benthic production, the estimated benthic food requirement of epibenthic predators was roughly 10–15% of benthic production. Variation in annual benthic production estimates was two to three times greater than the variation in consumption estimates.     

Outstations to primacy: Economic policy,class formation and growth in the towns of Papua New Guinea

Most towns in Papua New Guinea are small and the hierarchy comprises many isolated outstations and small towns. As a response to changes in economic policy the largest towns are growing rapidly at the expense of the small service centres. Changes in the population structure of these large towns have resulted in high rates of natural increase, while rural urban migration is steadily bringing in newcomers, to face urban unemployment and a lack of adequate housing. A secondary urban problem arises from the colonial legacy of urban zoning, which exacerbates the housing shortage and has created artifical socioeconomic residential areas. Although social differences are relatively small, the policy of economic growth will increase the gap between rich and poor, while urban unemployment and lack of housing have reached a crisis level in the rapidly growing big towns.     

A conceptual model to integrate the regional context in landscape policy,management and contribution to rural development: Literature review and European case study evidence

Agri-environmental policies and planning influence agricultural landscape management, and thus the capacity to deliver landscape services and to contribute to rural viability. Numerous models and frameworks have been developed to improve comprehension of the mechanisms and interrelationships between policies, landscape and socio-economic values and benefits. As social-ecological systems, landscapes are closely depending from the socio-institutional and territorial context of the specific rural locality. The paper proposes an enhanced framework for assessing these mechanisms by acknowledging the critical role of the regional macro-environment. A literature review and the revisiting of evidence from eight European case studies are applied to establish a comprehensive understanding and exemplification of the links between the policies, landscape, ecosystem services and value flows. Results highlight the need for integrative, inter- and transdisciplinary research approaches. Efficient landscape policies require enhanced regional embeddedness and targeting, acknowledgement of user demands and the capability of regional community and governance structures for policy implementation and natural capital valorisation.     

Numerical groundwater-flow modeling to evaluate potential effects of pumping and recharge: implications for sustainable groundwater management in the Mahanadi delta region,India

Process-based groundwater models are useful to understand complex aquifer systems and make predictions about their response to hydrological changes. A conceptual model for evaluating responses to environmental changes is presented, considering the hydrogeologic framework, flow processes, aquifer hydraulic properties, boundary conditions, and sources and sinks of the groundwater system. Based on this conceptual model, a quasi-three-dimensional transient groundwater flow model was designed using MODFLOW to simulate the groundwater system of Mahanadi River delta, eastern India. The model was constructed in the context of an upper unconfined aquifer and lower confined aquifer, separated by an aquitard. Hydraulic heads of 13 shallow wells and 11 deep wells were used to calibrate transient groundwater conditions during 1997–2006, followed by validation (2007–2011). The aquifer and aquitard hydraulic properties were obtained by pumping tests and were calibrated along with the rainfall recharge. The statistical and graphical performance indicators suggested a reasonably good simulation of groundwater flow over the study area. Sensitivity analysis revealed that groundwater level is most sensitive to the hydraulic conductivities of both the aquifers, followed by vertical hydraulic conductivity of the confining layer. The calibrated model was then employed to explore groundwater-flow dynamics in response to changes in pumping and recharge conditions. The simulation results indicate that pumping has a substantial effect on the confined aquifer flow regime as compared to the unconfined aquifer. The results and insights from this study have important implications for other regional groundwater modeling studies, especially in multi-layered aquifer systems.     

Zircon trace element characteristics and ages in granulite xenoliths: a key to understanding the age and origin of the lower crust,Arkhangelsk kimberlite province,Russia

Garnet granulite and pyroxenite xenoliths from the Grib kimberlite pipe (Arkhangelsk, NW Russia) represent the lower crust beneath Russian platform in close vicinity to the cratonic region of the north-eastern Baltic (Fennoscandian) Shield. Many of the xenoliths have experienced strong interaction with the kimberlite host, but in others some primary granulite-facies minerals are preserved. Calculated bulk compositions for the granulites suggest that their protoliths were basic to intermediate igneous rocks; pyroxenites were ultrabasic to basic cumulates. A few samples are probably metasedimentary in origin. Zircons are abundant in the xenoliths; they exhibit complex zoning in cathodoluminescence with relic cores and various metamorphic rims. Cores include oscillatory zircon crystallized in magmatic protoliths, and metamorphic and magmatic sector-zoned zircons. Recrystallization of older zircons led to the formation of bright homogeneous rims. In some samples, homogeneous shells are surrounded by darker convoluted overgrowths that were formed by subsolidus growth when a change in mineral association occurred. The source of Zr was a phase consumed during a reaction, which produced garnet. Late-generation zircons in all xenoliths show concordant U–Pb ages of 1.81–1.84 Ga (1,826 ± 11 Ma), interpreted as the age of last granulite-facies metamorphism. This event completely resets most zircon cores. An earlier metamorphic event at 1.96–1.94 Ga is recorded by some rare cores, and a few magmatic oscillatory zircons have retained a Neoarchaean age of 2,719 ± 14 Ma. The assemblage of metaigneous and metasedimentary rocks was probably formed before the event at 1.96 Ga. Inherited magmatic zircons indicate the existence of continental crust by the time of intrusion of magmatic protoliths in the Late Archaean. The U–Pb zircon ages correspond to major events recorded in upper crustal rocks of the region: collisional metamorphism and magmatism 2.7 Ga ago and reworking of Archaean rocks at around 1.95–1.75 Ga. However, formation of the granulitic paragenesis in lower crustal rocks occurred significantly later than the last granulite-facies event seen in the upper crust and correlates instead with retrograde metamorphism and small-volume magmatism in the upper crust.