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Environmental decision-making frequently relies on predictive mathematical modelling as an evidence base. Where legal provisions exist to challenge these decisions, models can be particularly vulnerable to such challenges. Defensible models often adhere to rigorous scientific method and the adoption of best modelling practice that ultimately facilitates a more reliable evidence base. While developing and adopting good practices and standards in mathematical modelling are crucial aspects for models, and an active area of research in many environmental disciplines, the implications of not adopting best modelling practice for environmental decision-makers remain largely implicit in the literature. The objective of this study was thus to explicitly identify and document the challenges associated with the use of predictive modelling in the environmental and resource management decision-making process through a systematic review of New Zealand legal decisions. The review produced a rich range of examples (68 legal decisions) where modelling evidence was challenged in legal proceedings and enabled the identification of modelling characteristics and practices which strengthen modelling reliability. All of the legal challenges were substantive, relating to the scientific components of the model (e.g. assumptions, input data, and parameters), model evaluation or application. None of the challenges were regulatory process challenges. There are numerous publications that describe best practice for modelling from a technical perspective, but it appears that these guidelines are not always being followed. If models are to be of substantial help in environmental decision-making then modellers and decision-makers will need to ensure that there is a clear understanding of the purpose of a model, the modelling process is transparent, limitations are acknowledged and considered, and that best practice guidelines are followed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing countries share many common challenges in addressing current and future climate risks. A key barrier to managing these risks is the limited availability of accessible, reliable and relevant weather and climate information. Despite continued investments in Earth System Modelling, and the growing provision of climate services across Africa and India, there often remains a mismatch between available information and what is needed to support on-the-ground decision-making. In this paper, we outline the range of currently available information and present examples from Africa and India to demonstrate the challenges in meeting information needs in different contexts. A review of literature supplemented by interviews with experts suggests that externally provided weather and climate information has an important role in building on local knowledge to shape understanding of climate risks and guide decision-making across scales. Moreover, case studies demonstrate that successful decision-making can be achieved with currently available information. However, these successful examples predominantly use daily, weekly and seasonal climate information for decision-making over short time horizons. Despite an increasing volume of global and regional climate model simulations, there are very few clear examples of long-term climate information being used to inform decisions at sub-national scales. We argue that this is largely because the information produced and disseminated is often ill-suited to inform decision-making at the local scale, particularly for farmers, pastoralists and sub-national governments. Even decision-makers involved in long-term planning, such as national government officials, find it difficult to plan using decadal and multi-decadal climate projections because of issues around uncertainty, risk averseness and constraints in justifying funding allocations on prospective risks. Drawing on lessons learnt from recent successes and failures, a framework is proposed to help increase the utility and uptake of both current and future climate information across Africa and India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective decision-making is critical for entrepreneurial success due to constantly changing customer needs. Research has indicated that visual performance management approaches have the potential to improve decision-making during operations in established firms. However, how visual performance management may affect decision-making during the entrepreneurial process has not yet been adequately addressed in the extant research literature. To contribute in filling this knowledge gap, a visual performance management tool called Obeya was adapted and utilised during an entrepreneurial process, and its impact on decision-making during the process was qualitatively explored. The findings indicate that the implementation of the Obeya tool has the potential to positively impact the ability to understand and communicate performance related information during the entrepreneurial process. Moreover, these effects may lead to improvements in decision-making. In addition, visual performance management may be a particularly powerful tool when it is combined with the implementation of iterative experimental entrepreneurial processes, such as Lean Startup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban development in China is strongly influenced by state policy in a context where even the emerging market actors are closely tied to government. The state role is reinforced by the absence of formal mechanisms for community participation in urban decision making and the limited citizenship rights of the large minority of urban residents who migrated from rural areas. Increasingly, however, scholars are becoming aware of the complexities of a political system that involves many vertical layers of governance, competition between localities and an ever-changing balance between centralisation and decentralisation. In addition, scholars are looking more closely at how urban residents adapt to the constraints and opportunities of a situation that is imposed on them, and how they develop strategies for their own advancement within it. In these ways, research on urban China offers a reconceptualisation of state-centred theories of urbanism and urbanisation in the global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the appearance of a range of opportunities for formal participation in environmental decision-making in Aotearoa New Zealand, postpolitics is very much present, annulling dissent, upholding dominant neoliberal ideals and delegitimising other voices. Through our analysis of a consent decision about a proposed coal mine on the West Coast of Aotearoa New Zealand and the experiences of opposing environmentalists, we offer empirical evidence that illustrates the fluid shifts between antagonism and agonism (after Mouffe) throughout this 'democratic' process. We argue that while aspirations for agonism should remain, it is important that planning theory pays attention to the role that power and hegemony play in what could otherwise be considered agonistic planning. Antagonism, the undesirable in Mouffe's radical democracy, has a critical role in neoliberal contexts, rupturing postpolitics and creating spaces of dissent so that agonistic contestation can provide for robust and rigorous debate in environmental decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of experimental toxicology is rapidly advancing by incorporating novel techniques and methods that provide a much more granular view into the mechanisms of potential adverse effects of chemical exposures on human health. The data from various in vitro assays and computational models are useful not only for increasing confidence in hazard and risk decisions, but also are enabling better, faster and cheaper assessment of a greater number of compounds, mixtures, and complex products. This is of special value to the field of green chemistry where design of new materials or alternative uses of existing ones is driven, at least in part, by considerations of safety. This article reviews the state of the science and decision-making in scenarios when little to no data may be available to draw conclusions about which choice in green chemistry is "safer." It is clear that there is no "one size fits all" solution and multiple data streams need to be weighed in making a decision. Moreover, the overall level of familiarity of the decision-makers and scientists alike with new assessment methodologies, their validity, value and limitations is evolving. Thus, while the "impact" of the new developments in toxicology on the field of green chemistry is great already, it is premature to conclude that the data from new assessment methodologies have been widely accepted yet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In environmental decisions, analysts commonly face substantial uncertainties around stakeholders' values judgments. Multi-Attribute Value Theory (MAVT), a family of multi-criteria decision analysis techniques, is applied in participative settings to articulate stakeholders' values in decision-making. In MAVT, value judgments represent the intensity of individuals' preferences in a set of objectives, which are operationalized as scaling factors or weights. Different sets of weights may express variation in people's preferences or value judgments. Unfortunately, there are still important methodological gaps regarding how to incorporate uncertainty and the substantial variation commonly encountered in stakeholders' preferences. This article presents a model of uncertainty that encompasses the dispersion of value judgments in MAVT. To achieve this goal, we draw on info-gap theory, which provides a mathematically grounded method for exploring sensitivity to preference weights when there are relatively high levels of uncertainties. We experimentally tested the uncertainty model in an environmental decision problem. We found that MAVT can use info-gap analysis to deal with multiple value judgments, avoiding exclusive reliance on nominal expected values to inform decisions. We explored a mechanism to explicitly consider the trade-offs between the performance of alternatives and the level of uncertainty that in any specified context a decision maker is willing to accept. Findings emphasize the potential of MAVT to support environmental management decisions, particularly in situations where multiple stakeholders and their contested value judgments have to be considered simultaneously to explore uncertainties around value trade-offs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In cities, land-use decisions made during planning processes determine the availability of ecosystem services fundamental to the wellbeing of urban population. Hence, the inclusion of ecosystem services in planning is essential to promote sustainable urban development. This article investigates to what extent ecosystem services are currently included in urban plans. The ultimate objective is to understand what ecosystem service information is already used, and what is still needed to improve planning decisions. We developed a methodology to review the content of planning documents irrespective of the terminology adopted to refer to ecosystem services, and examined the inclusion of nine urban ecosystem services across three plan components. In our sample of 22 urban plans of Italian cities, we found a high number of actions to address urban ecosystem services and a variety of tools for implementation. However, a two-speed integration emerges: a set of ecosystem services (i.e. recreation and some regulating services linked to typical urban environmental problems) are widely addressed, while others are hardly considered. Shortcomings can be partly ascribed to gaps in the scientific literature. Usable methods to assess urban ecosystem services at the right scale and resolution while also accounting for the multi-functionality of urban green infrastructures are still needed. On the other hand, future urban plans would benefit from a further appropriation of the ecosystem service approach by practitioners and decision-makers. Acknowledging the whole range of urban ecosystem services, defining strategic objectives related to their provision, and explicitly identifying demand and beneficiaries could increase awareness of the values at stake, ensure long-term commitment in the implementation phase, and strengthen planning arguments against conflicting interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although current environmental justice analyses shed light on fracking and fracking’s environmental and public health policy, a comprehensive justice analysis framework is needed in order to cover the policy gap of fracking impacts on the total environment, communities, and sustainability. Based on a concise summary of the effects of fracking on the total environment, the society and economy, and land use, this brief communication designs a conception of fracking equity and its spatial justice analysis prototype. Fracking equity is much beyond the scope of current environmental justice or social justice that is spatially limited within certain distance to fracking wells. Fracking equity based on the benefit and harm associated with fracking, not only encompasses environmental justice, social justice, but also emphasizes all stakeholder groups, the spatiotemporal characteristics of the justice of fracking, sustainable development, and the integrated analyzing methods including GIS, decision making, demographic analysis, spatiotemporal modeling at different scales, and long term analysis of fracking equity. Spatial justice of fracking unites the environmental, social, economic, ecological factors and their processes that are temporally changing and reshaping the space people live in and depend on, and these complicated factors and their dynamic interactions are the core of spatial justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expanding economical activities have accelerated losses of biodiversity and ecosystem services, which are especially pronounced in Asia. To find solutions to stop these losses, a group of scientists studying both ecological and social sciences has launched an interdisciplinary research network, entitled TSUNAGARI (Trans-System, UNified Approach for Global and Regional Integration of social-ecological study toward sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystem services). The project is based on two main perspectives: (1) integrating different disciplines of environmental research across multiple spatial scales, and (2) evaluating the importance of ecosystem connectivity between land and ocean for biodiversity and ecosystem services. The integrative studies have been started as follows: (1) integrating global-scale analyses of biodiversity and economy by developing GIS-based footprint analysis, (2) establishing the link between the studies of local good practices of ecosystem management and life cycle assessment on ecosystem good and services, (3) linking local-scale ecosystem studies to decision making processes for sustainable society by multiple stakeholders, and (4) upscaling local analyses of ecosystem processes to broad-scale analyses of ecosystem patterns. The proposed approaches are considered effective to solve problems that impede conservation of biodiversity and sustainable use of multiple ecosystem services in various situations although we also find some gaps such as regional biases in biodiversity data and involvement of different types of stakeholders. By overcoming the major bottlenecks, we believe the new integrated approaches will promote conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity and ecosystem services research, and contribute to advance decision-making processes from local communities to international levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effort to narrow the gap between the production and use of scientific knowledge for environmental decision-making is gaining traction, yet in practice, supply and demand remains largely unbalanced. A qualitative study based on empirical analysis offers a novel approach to exploring key factors, focussing on seven water models in the context of two organisations at the science-policy interface: the PIREN-Seine in France and the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities in Australia. Tentative linkages drawn from these examples identify: (1) objective and expertise; (2) knowledge and tools; and (3) support structures as main drivers influencing the production of scientific knowledge which, in turn, affect the use and utility of modelling tools. Further insight is gained by highlighting the wide spectrum of uses and utilities existing in practice, suggesting that such 'boundary organisations' facilitate interactions and exchanges that give added value to scientific knowledge. Coordinated strategies that integrate inter-, extra-, and intra-boundary activities, framed through collaborative scenario building and the use of interactive modelling platforms, may offer ways to enhance the use and utility of scientific knowledge (and its tools) to better support water resources management, policy and planning decisions, thus promoting a more cohesive relationship between science and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An uncontrolled gas leak from 25 March to 16 May 2012 led to evacuation of the Total Elgin well head and neighbouring drilling and production platforms in the UK North Sea. Initially the atmospheric flow rate of leaking gas and condensate was very poorly known, hampering environmental assessment and well control efforts. Six flights by the UK FAAM chemically-instrumented BAe-146 research aircraft, were used to quantify the flow rate. Where appropriate, two different methods were used to calculate the flow rate: 1. Gaussian plume fitting in the vertical and 2. Direct integration of the plume. When both methods were used, they compared within 6 % of each other and within combined errors. Data from the first flight on 30 March 2012 showed the flow rate to be 1.3 ± 0.2 kg CH4 s-1, decreasing to less than half that by the second flight on 17 April 2012. δ13CCH4 in the gas was found to be -43 ‰, implying that the gas source was unlikely to be from the main high-pressure high-temperature Elgin gas field at 5.5 km depth, but more probably from the overlying Hod Formation at 4.2 km depth. This was deemed to be smaller and more manageable than the high-pressure Elgin field and hence the response strategy was considerably simpler. The first flight was conducted within 5 days of the blowout and allowed a flow rate estimate within 48 hours of sampling, with δ13CCH4 characterisation soon thereafter, demonstrating the potential for a rapid-response capability that is widely applicable to future atmospheric emissions of environmental concern. Knowledge of the Elgin flow rate helped inform subsequent decision making. This study shows that leak assessment using appropriately designed airborne plume sampling strategies is well suited for circumstances where direct access is difficult or potentially dangerous. Measurements such as this also permit unbiased regulatory assessment of potential impact, independent of the emitting party, on timescales that can inform industry decision-makers and assist rapid response-planning by government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concern with climate change and sustainability emerged in the public debate in the 1970s. Over the course of the next 40 years progress was achieved on both fronts, reflecting an evolution in societal values, where economic development was no longer seen as an absolute goal, but one which had to be realized with due regard to its impacts on people and the environment. Governments started to consider means to achieve a balance between these competing goals, while companies started to integrate social and environmental considerations in their business pursuits. This article will describe the origins of the concept of sustainability and international attention to climate change and how changes in societal perceptions regarding climate change and societal expectations of company conduct led to increased action by governments and business alike. It will also show how stakeholder activism on the part of the investor community, NGOs and governments coupled with companies' endorsement of sustainability as a means to maintain their social licence to operate and hence market position, have resulted in an energy sector prepared to play a part in the transition to a low carbon society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An editorial is presented on consideration of an education services adoption for proliferation of an ecological democracy (ED). Topics discussed include contribution of radical ecological democracy (RED) in management of several services such as ecological resilience; analysis of the U.S. president Donald Trump's decision for withdrawal from the Paris Agreement; and adoption of an environmental education for environmental decision-making approaches.

Urban-planning authorities continually face the problem of optimising the allocation of green space over time in developing urban environments. The problem is essentially a sequential decision-making task involving several interconnected and non-linear uncertainties, and requires time-intensive computation to evaluate the potential consequences of individual decisions. We explore the application of two very distinct frameworks incorporating evolutionary algorithm approaches for this problem: (i) an ‘offline’ approach, in which a candidate solution encodes a complete set of decisions, which is then evaluated by full simulation and (ii) an ‘online’ approach which involves a sequential series of optimisations, each making only a single decision, and starting its simulations from the endpoint of the previous run. We study the outcomes, in each case, in the context of a simulated urban development model, and compare their performance in terms of speed and quality. Our results show that the online version is considerably faster than the offline counterpart, without significant loss in performance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The analysis of governance in Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) can help understand why, whether and how strategic decision-making happens. Understanding the governance context is strategic to improve the role and capacity of SEA to stimulate, and legitimate decisions that integrate environmental issues and are sustainability driven. The objective of this paper is to discuss why governance is important in SEA. In the SEA literature governance is mostly addressed in silos (i.e. public participation or decisions transparency or accountability) rather than in an integrated way. In addition few authors adopt a strategic view to address the governance context within which SEA is used. In this paper we address the heuristics of governance in SEA based on theoretical and empirical evidence, suggesting how SEA may incorporate the governance dimension. First a review of the SEA literature in relation to governance sets the context to the analysis on how governance is approached in practice, based on 60 Portuguese SEA cases. This is followed by the presentation of an empirical SEA case conducted in Portugal to illustrate what, in our understanding, can be an example of good practice in considering governance in SEA. Final discussion reflects on the role of governance in SEA in promoting engagement, enabling collaborative action, learning processes and dialogues, concluding on the relevance of governance in creating development contexts that can deal with change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociological critiques of scientific research processes and their application have developed nuanced understandings of the social, cultural and political forces shaping relationships between science and decision-making. Simultaneously, environmental researchers have sought to construct more engaged, dynamic modes of conducting research to facilitate the application of science in decision-making and action. To date, however, there are relatively few theoretically-oriented approaches that have been able to draw productive connections between the sociological critique and the practical applications that can aid in navigating this complex and diverse milieu. In this article, we propose that the concept of “knowledge governance” can bring together targeted inquiry into the socio-political context in which environmental science is situated, alongside analysis of specific interventions that change knowledge-to-action relationships. Drawing together Jasanoff’s (2005) concept of civic epistemology with Cash et al.’s (2003) knowledge systems for sustainability approach, this knowledge governance inquiry framework offers an integrative lens through which to critically reflect on knowledge-based processes, and incorporate that deeper understanding into intervention efforts. We briefly illustrate its application with reference to a pilot project examining conservation decision-making in the Western Pacific island nation of Palau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The governance of flood risks varies considerably in different parts of the world. Obviously this is due to the nature and characteristics of flood risks, but in part governance approaches vary because of political differences in the nature of governance itself. What is ‘appropriate’ in this respect depends partly on the prevailing conceptions of the public interest in a country. By applying Alexander’s (2002) categorization of public interest to flood risk management practices in The Netherlands, we show that the strongly unitary conception of the public interest (a historic ‘flood risk safety for all’), is intertwined with a state-based, sector-based, hydro-technical governance and expertise system. Although this conception is very strong it is no longer self-evident. Because of changing conceptions of governance in general and because of the felt necessity to adapt to climate change, Dutch flood risk management is gradually changing. Increasingly, the Dutch government has to deal with more dialogical and utilitarian approaches to public interest in the governance of flood risks. The Dutch approach is rooted in community-based interests in flood protection and was centralized and rationalized during the 19th and 20th century. The current flood risk standards are based upon a coarse utilitarian benefit-cost analysis, but evolved into mostly a unitary idea of national safety materialized in law by statutory flood risk standards. The findings show that this unitary concept and status of the public interest of flood risk safety has not diminished; it must, however, increasingly take into account the importance of both processes of decision making (dialogues, deliberations) and neighboring public interests. We conclude that the Dutch conception of the public interest on flood safety is still strong but nevertheless gradually changing, not the least because of a general availability of the information and technology to calculate and differentiate risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implementing environmental risk mitigation countermeasures in the context of a business environment requires balancing costs and benefits of projects to be implemented. Systematic environmental risk analysis methods are thus needed to aid decision-making. This paper proposes a segmented pinch analysis methodology that considers the relationship between environmental risk prevention and control countermeasure costs, while also considering the criticality of environmental risk prevention. In this methodology, the countermeasure costs are divided into low-, medium-, and high-cost intervals. This methodology is illustrated using a chemical industry case study to demonstrate how risk countermeasures can be identified under different levels of a firm’s “willingness to pay.” The final optimal mix of countermeasures can then be determined from candidate solutions. And it makes a firm to best allocate resources to the enterprises’ risk points to ensure the normal operation of a chemical enterprise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Students and academic researchers conduct a diverse range of studies that add to the growing body of ecotoxicology research. Once an academic researcher entertains an applied research topic, there is potential for that research to be used in local, state, or federal regulatory decision or action. The ability of regulatory decision makers to use academic studies to inform decisions is dependent on: 1) the relevance of the experiment to regulatory decisions, 2) the reliability of the laboratory and the study itself, and 3) quality reporting of data such that study relevance and reliability are evident. The purpose of this brief communication is to highlight actions that can be taken by Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry members to enhance the usability of academic research studies in regulatory decision making by promoting training, partnerships, and communication. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2017;13:580-584. © 2016 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Regulatory policies in many parts of the world recognize either the utility of or the mandate that all available studies be considered in environmental or ecological hazard and risk assessment (ERA) of chemicals, including studies from the peer-reviewed literature. Consequently, a vast array of different studies and data types need to be considered. The first steps in the evaluation process involve determining whether the study is relevant to the ERA and sufficiently reliable. Relevance evaluation is typically performed using existing guidance but involves application of 'expert judgment' by risk assessors. In the present paper, we review published guidance for relevance evaluation and, on the basis of the practical experience within the group of authors, we identify additional aspects and further develop already proposed aspects that should be considered when conducting a relevance assessment for ecotoxicological studies. From a regulatory point of view, the overarching key aspect of relevance concerns the ability to directly or indirectly use the study in ERA with the purpose of addressing specific protection goals and ultimately regulatory decision making. Because ERA schemes are based on the appropriate linking of exposure and effect estimates, important features of ecotoxicological studies relate to exposure relevance and biological relevance. Exposure relevance addresses the representativeness of the test substance, environmental exposure media, and exposure regime. Biological relevance deals with the environmental significance of the test organism and the endpoints selected, the ecological realism of the test conditions simulated in the study, as well as a mechanistic link of treatment-related effects for endpoints to the protection goal identified in the ERA. In addition, uncertainties associated with relevance should be considered in the assessment. A systematic and transparent assessment of relevance is needed for regulatory decision making. The relevance aspects also need to be considered by scientists when designing, performing, and reporting ecotoxicological studies to facilitate their use in ERA. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2017;13:652-663. © 2016 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a small island developing state, Mauritius needs to manage its natural assets with a precautionary approach, especially as the tourism industry is one of the main pillars of its economy. While the precautionary principle has no statutory value in Mauritius, it serves as a guiding principle in environmental decision making. Since 1993, the assessment of impact has been mandatory under the Environment Protection Act (EPA) for major development activities, to avoid activities that may have a significant adverse impact on the environment and society. The local impact assessment procedure currently includes two categories of undertakings listed in the EPA, namely the environment impact assessment (EIA) and the preliminary environment report for undertakings with less environmental and socio-economic impact. This article examines the Mauritian EIA regulatory mechanism and seeks to strengthen the EIA process with a precautionary approach, to achieve more effective regulation and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the current discussion on whether ‘soft’ regulation actually influences policy outcomes by examining the effects of national policy instruments on municipal climate and energy planning. Sweden has experienced shifts in the incentive context over the last decades complementing soft planning regulations with stringent conditions for getting national economic support to local energy and climate action. We hypothesize that when soft regulations are surrounded by detailed conditions for getting state support, there will be higher degrees of local institutionalization of climate and energy strategies. The importance of economic support as part of national policy is confirmed by evidence from local energy and climate strategies and from interviews with local decision-makers. We also find that specific municipal features such as earlier municipal engagement in national support programs and relevant inter-municipal networks function as drivers for the institutionalization of local action. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

De-extinction technology that brings back extinct species, or variants on extinct species, is becoming a reality with significant implications for biodiversity conservation. If extinction could be reversed there are potential conservation benefits and costs that need to be carefully considered before such action is taken., Here, we use a conservation prioritization framework to identify and discuss some factors that would be important if de-extinction of species for release into the wild were a viable option within an overall conservation strategy., We particularly focus on how de-extinction could influence the choices that a management agency would make with regard to the risks and costs of actions, and how these choices influence other extant species that are managed in the same system., We suggest that a decision science approach will allow for choices that are critical to the implementation of a drastic conservation action, such as de-extinction, to be considered in a deliberate manner while identifying possible perverse consequences., A is available for this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Topography, weather, and fuels are known factors driving fire behavior, but the degree to which each contributes to the spatial pattern of fire severity under different conditions remains poorly understood. The variability in severity within the boundaries of the 2006 wildfires that burned in the Klamath Mountains, northern California, along with data on burn conditions and new analytical tools, presented an opportunity to evaluate factors influencing fire severity under burning conditions representative of those where management of wildfire for resource benefit is most likely. Fire severity was estimated as the percent change in canopy cover (0-100%) classified from the Relativized differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (RdNBR), and spatial data layers were compiled to determine strength of associations with topography, weather, and variables directly or indirectly linked to fuels, such as vegetation type, number of previous fires, and time since last fire. Detailed fire progressions were used to estimate weather (e.g., temperature, relative humidity, temperature inversions, and solar radiation) at the time of burning. A generalized additive regression model with random effects and an additional spatial term to account for autocorrelation between adjacent locations was fitted to fire severity. In this fire year characterized by the relative absence of extreme fire weather, topographical complexity most strongly influenced severity. Upper- and mid-slopes tended to burn at higher fire severity than lower-slopes. East- and southeast-facing aspects tended to burn at higher severity than other aspects. Vegetation type and fire history were also important predictors of fire severity. Shrub vegetation was more likely to burn at higher severity than mixed hardwood/conifer or hardwood vegetation. As expected, fire severity was positively associated with time since previous fire, but the relationship was non-linear. Of the weather variables analyzed, temperature inversions, common in the complex topography of the Klamath Mountains, showed the strongest association with fire severity. Inversions trapped smoke and had a dampening effect on severity within the landscape underneath the inversion. Understanding the spatial controls on mixed-severity fires allows managers to better plan for future wildfires and aide in the decision making when managing lightning ignitions for resource benefit might be appropriate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental regulation of hazardous projects with risk-based decision-making processes can lead to a deficient management of human exposure to technological hazards. Such an approach for regulation is criticized for simplifying the complexity of decisions involving the economic, social, and environmental aspects of the installation and operation of hazardous facilities in urban areas. Results of a Brazilian case study indicate that oil and gas transmission pipelines may represent a threat to diverse communities if the relationship between such linear projects and human populations is overlooked by regulatory bodies. Results also corroborate known challenges to the implementation of EIA processes and outline limitations to an effective environmental and risk management. Two preliminary topics are discussed to strengthen similar regulatory practices. Firstly, an effective integration between social impact assessment and risk assessment in EIA processes to have a more comprehensive understanding of the social fabric. Secondly, the advancement of traditional management practices for hazardous installations to pursue a strong transition from assessment and evaluation to management and control and to promote an effective interaction between land-use planning and environmental regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper considers nomads' decision-making process in response to the 'Eco-Migration Policy' in the Three River Headwaters region of the People's Republic of China. Contrary to previous studies of [...]

Recent scholarship examining environmental governance and solid waste management (SWM) in Hawaii has demonstrated the complexities of managing refuse in a remote, ecologically sensitive archipelago. Despite decades of calls for intensive recycling, composting, incineration, and other non-landfill disposal technologies, most islands of Hawaii continue to rely on sanitary landfilling. On Maui, a minor bureaucratic scandal centered on landfill permitting triggered the formation of an ad hoc entity intended to change SWM once and for all – the Solid Waste Resources Advisory Committee (SWRAC). I mobilize scholarship on waste governance, and in particular the ‘modes of governing’ framework to interrogate the decision-making processes of the SWRAC, evaluate their outputs, and consider the reasons for their ultimately limited impact on SWM governance on Maui. Based on a close reading of SWRAC meeting minutes and documents, I identify several factors, including the lack of clear goals or targets for SWRAC activity; a flawed, consensus-oriented decision-making process; and a failure to contextualize SWM within the broader environmental and cultural terrain of Maui. Taken together, I contend that these three problem areas underline the significance of seriously incorporating and harmonizing competing conceptions of ecological identity into both the ‘modes of governing’ framework and the scholarship of environmental governance more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implementing climate-resilient pathways in conditions of uncertainty and change is a serious challenge. Approaches have been developed for this type of problem, one of which, Dynamic Adaptive Policy Pathways approach (DAPP), has been applied in practice in a limited number of circumstances, mainly for large infrastructure projects and at national scales. To better understand what it takes to catalyse uptake of DAPP to better address uncertainty and change than typical static planning approaches, we examined the role of a simulation game facilitated by a knowledge broker, in a real-life local decision setting on flood risk management in New Zealand. Four intervention phases over four years are described and their influence analysed: 1) creating interest through framing the science, 2) increasing awareness using the Game, 3) experimenting with DAPP, and 4) uptake of DAPP. We found that a knowledge broker introducing new framing of changing risk profiles, facilitating use of the Game and the DAPP approach in a real-life decision making setting, with contextual support from events and (inter)national reports, catalysed the uptake of adaptive pathways planning. We identified enabling requirements necessary for embedding adaptive planning into decision-making practice for addressing uncertainty and change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological risk assessment is often applied to guide the decision-making process that underpins ecosystem-based management and prioritisation of risk factors for management. Several studies have recently used ecological risk assessment approaches to identify risk factors of greatest concern, but rarely are the underlying methodological decisions discussed in terms of the effect that those decisions have on the outcome of the assessment and ultimately, how that affects prioritisation of risk factors for management. This study therefore evaluates the effect of methodological decisions involving (1) the choice and definition of risk factors, and (2) the calculation of risk scores, providing, where possible, recommendations on what should be the most appropriate methodologies. The definition of risk factors is often determined by the policy context and could result in the comparison of one broadly defined risk meta-factor (e.g. Food Production) with corresponding specific risk factors defined more narrowly (i.e. Oil and Gas production or Offshore Wind). Depending on the method to calculate risk this may result in a systematic bias prioritising any risk meta-factor. For the calculation of individual impact chain risk scores we compared weighted scores with ordinal scores, where the former allows more flexibility to represent the qualitative categories that determine risk and provided results better supported by scientific evidence. A consideration of different risk assessment applications in EBM showed there is no one-size-fits-all solution to this as these methodological decisions need to be considered in concert and the preferred methodology may depend on the context in which the risk assessment is applied. The outcome of the risk assessment should always be accompanied by an explicit consideration of these methodological issues and description of the resulting methodological choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collaboration is increasingly important in conservation, and is evident in both action and discourse. To understand how discourses about collaboration vary during environmental decision making, this research evaluates rhetoric and claims about place within mass media discourses about conservation in the Adirondacks. Local newspaper articles and editorials published during 1996–2013 concerning six major conservation projects were studied using content and thematic analyses. Results show that collaborative rhetoric increased across the study period, while conflict rhetoric declined, paralleling the rise of collaborative planning efforts; uses of place imagery also varied by types of spokespersons, external factors influenced discourses, and there was an increasing convergence between conservation sponsors and local communities regarding the importance of collaboration and public participation. As natural resource managers increasingly embrace community-based natural resource management, this study raises normative questions about the consequences of collaborative and conflict rhetoric. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The conservation of biodiversity depends on the implementation of policy with limited financial resources. Due to this shortage of resources, conservation activities must be prioritized so that scarce funds are used rationally to prevent long-term biodiversity loss. To assure funding continuity, since it is the public that pays a significant part of conservation costs, it is imperative that managers and policymakers apply limited conservation funds in a way that makes people feel that their concerns about biodiversity loss are addressed. Here we argue for public preferences to be incorporated in species conservation decision making through criteria weighting. Public preferences were analyzed in two different contexts (abstract vs. concrete) to understand how stable public preferences are across different elicitation procedures. Our results show some resilience in criteria ranking, with functional importance being considered as the top criterion across different ways of questioning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the development of national governance systems for Reducing Emissions fromDeforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+), countries struggle with ensuring that decision-making processes include a variety of actors (i.e., input legitimacy) and represent their diverse views in REDD+ policy documents (i.e., output legitimacy).We examine these two dimensions of legitimacy using Mexico's REDD+ readiness process during a four-year period (2011-2014) as a case study. To identify REDD+ actors and how they participate in decision-making we used a stakeholder analysis; to assess actors' views and the extent to which these views are included in the country's official REDD+ documents we conducted a discourse analysis. We found low level of input legitimacy in so far as that the federal government environment agencies concentrate most decision-making power and key land-use sectors and local people's representatives are absent in decision-making forums. We also observed that the REDD+ discourse held by government agencies and both multilateral and international conservation organisations is dominant in policy documents, while the other two identified discourses, predominantly supported by national and civil society organisations and the academia, are partly, or not at all, reflected in such documents. We argue that Mexico's REDD+ readiness process should become more inclusive, decentralised, and better coordinated to allow for the deliberation and institutionalisation of different actors' ideas in REDD+ design. Our analysis and recommendations are relevant to other countries in the global South embarking on REDD+ design and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this introduction to the special issue on “The Precarious Nature of Environmental Activism”, I describe my own path to environmental activism and the articles contributed to the special issue. In this special issue we look at the changing role of environmental activism. In particular, the authors focus on how the role of the activist is mediated by one’s relationship to the community or those individuals tasked with making environmental decisions. Relatedly, these papers also look at how activism and the relationship between activist and scholar roles can often be challenging and how many activist-scholars work in changing environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foraging behaviour must be flexible enough to adapt to heterogeneities in the distribution and quality of food resources. Accurate models of optimal foraging behaviour should acknowledge the extent to which animals can detect and regulate their intake of food based on smaller scale differences in food types. In particular, consideration of macro-nutrient distribution and how animals perceive this is limited in studies of optimal foraging, particularly in vertebrates and for animals that forage in groups., Here, we track shoals of eight mosquitofish as they forage in two environments that contain equal amounts of available energy but differ in their distribution of macro-nutrients. We provide empirical evidence that fish will distribute themselves within an environment in relation to the distribution of specific macro-nutrients., Also, fish make foraging decisions based on the macronutrient composition of patches, such that their durations on patches are longer when they have a higher concentration of protein and lower concentration of carbohydrate. The ratio of protein to carbohydrate does not affect the probability of a fish joining a patch, however, with low numbers of fish on the patch the probability of a fish leaving is greater per unit time step in the patches with a low protein to carbohydrate ratio than the patches with a high protein to carbohydrate ratio., This study confirms the importance of considering the macro-nutrient composition of foods when considering the movement decisions of foraging groups and thus has important consequences for developing more accurate foraging models that take into account the distribution of macro-nutrients in the environment. The results suggest the spatial distribution of nutrients on a landscape scale could influence grouping patterns and social interactions, thus affecting population dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the use of big data in the management of climate change risks. Topics include the importance of vulnerability research on big data such as provision of information for the adaptation of decision-making, other use of big data such as examination of human mobility and development of georeferenced datasets, and the benefits of using early warnings and surveillance in climate change.

In this paper we consider uses of value of information studies in conservation biology. It is a common assumption that more and better quality data will lead to better conservation management decisions. Indeed, this assumption lies behind, and motivates, a great deal of current work in conservation biology. Of course, more data can lead to better decisions in some cases but decision-theoretic models of the value of information show that this need not always be the case: sometimes the cost of data collection is too high. While such value of information studies are well known in economics and decision theory circles, their applications in conservation biology are relatively new. These studies are a valuable tool for conservation management, and we outline some of the potential applications. We also offer some advice about, and problems with, implementing value of information studies in conservation settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the benefits of including age structure in the control rule (HCR) when decision makers regard their (age-structured) models as approximations. We find that introducing age structure into the HCR reduces both the volatility of the spawning biomass and the yield. Although the benefits are lower at a fairly imprecise level, there are still major advantages for the actual precision with which the case study is assessed. Moreover, we find that when age-structure is included in the HCR the relative ranking of different policies in terms of variance in biomass and yield does not differ. These results are shown both theoretically and numerically by applying the model to the Southern Hake fishery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Establishing national corridors have been identified as a policy priority for environmental and biodiversity conservation in many parts of the world. We explore the performance of a combinatorial landscape auction design to establish environmental corridors using an agent based simulation model. This modelling technique is highly flexible in modelling decision making processes involving heterogeneous landholders. Such structures allow landholders the opportunity to submit joint bids and, as such, share in the benefits that synergies across the landscape provide. The contribution of the paper is threefold. First, we compare spatial and non-spatial project selection to observe whether it is possible to achieve corridor outcomes with a non-spatially targeted project selection mechanism? We observe that while a corridor project selection mechanism increases the procurement cost, such selection mechanisms are necessary for spatially targeted objectives. Second, we study the effect of allowing agents to form coalitions and submit joint bids. We find evidence that joint bidding substantially increased procurement costs especially when the agency's target was to secure environmental corridors. Third, we study the combined effect of off-site synergies and joint bidding. We observe that relative benefits from off-site synergy are higher in spatial targeting programs compared to non-corridor targeting programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims at describing, analyzing and evaluating the relation between management styles and process dynamics of a complex planning process confronted with unexpected dynamics. The development of an aquatic disposal site for dredged contaminated sediments in Oslo was managed by a project management style focused on timely and cost-effective implementation. Coupling the remediation project with another infrastructural project and the actual construction of the site led to unexpected dynamics in terms of resistance and controversy. Project management had difficulties in adjusting its style accordingly, resulting in even more delay and resistance. Managing complex planning projects requires a style suitable to the characteristics of the project and the capability of adjusting it to changing circumstances. The paper concludes with some explanations why it is difficult to change management styles in complex planning and implementation processes and complexity-embracing approaches to deal with this. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a multi-criteria selection of the best forest road network with the aim of achieving effective preventive and timely repressive protection against forest fires. The research was carried out in national park (NP) “Tara” at a site which is under constant threat of fire. Four variants of the forest road network were designed and analyzed against seven criteria, and the best variant was selected using entropy weight coefficients (EWC) method. The importance of these seven criteria was studied by the management of the NP “Tara.” The greatest importance was given to the criteria relating to the cost of construction and maintenance of permanent and temporary roads (47% of the total value of all criteria). The EWC method did not select the variant based on the lowest costs of construction and maintenance as the best option, but the variant whose location was the most suitable for effective defense against forest fires. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Transport infrastructures have been investigated as drivers of tourist demand. Specific attention has been devoted to air transport infrastructure and services. However, the literature on this issue is scanty. Moreover, few studies focus on ex-ante valuation of tourists' preferences for mobility systems. This study contributes to this literature by presenting a case study on the re-organization of the mobility system to access the city of Siena, Italy. A choice experiment is carried out to elicit tourists' preferences for distance, time, cost, travel mode, along with the environmental impact of infrastructure. The latter factor turns out to be particularly relevant in explaining tourists' choices and welfare. Furthermore, the results appear to be robust and not significantly dependent on design settings (specifically the number of alternatives). While these results only refer to a single case study, they seem to suggest that new transportation facilities do not necessarily cause an increase in tourism flows. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

General backcasting as a decision support and planning method starts from desired future states and simulates developments backwards until reaching the present state. Development pathways that reveal steps to be taken to reach a certain future state, and milestones that serve as interim goals, are created during the process. Backcasting has hitherto only been applied in workshops or as a theoretical framework and no spatially explicit backcasting model has previously been established. This paper presents the development of a spatially explicit backcasting model. The proposed model first creates a future scenario utilizing an agent-based model and then simulates backwards. It is implemented using the programming language Python. The model has been applied to a case study for sustainable land-use planning in Salzburg, Austria. The results of the model run show a successful backcasting of land-use classes from a future state back to the present, in 10 year time steps. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recent years have witnessed a wave of interest in the concept of green infrastructure (GI) as a means of applying an ecosystem approach to spatial planning practice; however, more limited attention has been paid to decision-making processes or tools to enhance GI within spatial plans and guidance. We address this deficit by reporting on the development and application of an interactive group-based methodology to enhance GI ‘thinking’ and interdisciplinary collaboration, drawing on the literature on the sociology of interactions. Our findings suggest that a game-based approach to GI problem-solving was successful in breaking down professional barriers by creating an informal learning arena, providing an enabling opportunity for participants to solve problems in an iterative, non-linear style to develop principles for action with transferability to ongoing plan formation. This style of problem-solving was characterised by shifting norms and routines of interaction, leading to problem re-framing and a search for alternative solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Environmental risk assessment (ERA) is a powerful technical tool for analyzing potential and extreme adverse environmental impacts, and has found wide application in supporting decision-making processes over the last two decades. However, to date there has been no interrelated application of ERA to support the processes of strategic decision-making (SDM), especially in coastal areas. In this paper, we attempt to verify the feasibility of the proposed integrated ERA–SDM approach and its methodology by applying it to two case studies (in Xiamen Bay and Luoyuan Bay) of the principal coastal functional zoning (PCFZ, a kind of SDM and similar to the coastal and marine spatial planning in western). The results show that the integrated ERA–SDM approach could integrate ERA into the entire SDM process, directly support the PCFZ, and avoid or mitigate dire environmental risk that can be introduced by SDM processes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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Collaborative natural resource management has emerged as a means to increase the transparency of decisionmaking in public lands management and to promote shared learning among stakeholders. We developed a rapid forest assessment (RFA) approach for monitoring the key characteristics of forests that capitalizes on the growing interest for citizen science monitoring and can be implemented at large extents. The methods were designed for use with minimal training, to maximize field efficiency, and to simplify interpretation of the data. We chose our variables based on the common interests and questions of collaborative group, We collected data on trees, fuels, woody debris, understory, horizontal cover, weeds, and soil disturbance. We tested the methods with several student groups and quantified the variability of measures within groups. We discuss the benefits of and challenges to engaging citizen scientists in monitoring. The simplicity and efficiency of the RFA make it a useful tool for multiparty monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ecosystem services (ES) concept is being increasingly incorporated into environmental policy formulation and management approaches. The Corporate Ecosystem Services Review (ESR) is a framework used to assess the dependence and impact that a business has on ES. The success of the corporate experience of ES assessment provides an opportunity for adaption for local authority decision making. In this paper, the ESR tool was adapted to the South African setting at a local government level, and tested at two sites in the Msunduzi Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal. In testing the tool and gathering feedback from key stakeholders, it was found that there are both opportunities and challenges to this approach. Overall, however, it provides an opportunity for the systematic inclusion of ES assessment into existing regulatory frameworks for land-use planning and Integrated Environmental Management, whether in a strategic application, at a broader spatial (municipal) scale or in a specific locale within the municipality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, an environmental-friendly modeling system was developed and applied to an agriculture nonpoint source (AGNPS) management in Ulansuhai Nur watershed. In this system, water environmental capacity, credibility-based chance-constrained programming (CCCP), and AGNPS optimization models were integrated into a general modeling framework. It could be used to calculate water environmental capacity of total nitrogen and total phosphorus in Ulansuhai Nur watershed, which could consequentially provide input data for the developed AGNPS optimization model. Also, the inherent uncertainties in estimating water environmental capacities that can be expressed as possibilistic distributions were reflected and addressed based on computational results of three widely used methods. Such uncertainties were consequentially transferred to the proposed CCCP model based on the adoption of multiple credibility satisfactory levels, significantly facilitating objectivity reflection of decision alternatives. The developed modeling system was then applied to Ulansuhai Nur watershed of Inner Mongolia, a semi-arid river basin in northwestern China. Optimal strategies for AGNPS management in Ulansuhai Nur watershed were generated with consideration of the maximum total agricultural income under multiple policy scenarios. The results showed that the total agricultural income would increase with point source pollution being cut down, and would decrease with rising credibility levels, representing decreasing system violation risks. It was indicated that the higher of total nitrogen/phosphorus discharge being less than water environmental capacity of Ulansuhai Nur, the lower the total agriculture incomes. The proposed methods could help decision makers establish various production patterns with cost-effective agriculture nonpoint source management schemes in the basin of Ulansuhai Nur, and gain in-depth insights into the trade-offs between total agricultural incomes and system reliabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Urban Policy & Research is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)