Search

Application of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus system is essential for addressing Water-Energy-Food Security and Environmental Protection in urban agricultural areas. However, there is currently no standardized framework for measuring and comparing sustainability indicators in these areas using the WEF Nexus practices. This study proposes sustainability measurement indicators to evaluate the WEF Nexus sustainability. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was employed to identify the most crucial indicators for policymakers. The WEF nexus sustainability indicators were selected based on three dimensions of sustainability: social, environmental, and economic. The study focused on Varamin, a semi-arid city in Tehran that serves as a center for urban agriculture. Research results indicate that water-related components are crucial in arid and semi-arid regions. Based on the environmental sustainability indicators, pollution prevention, with a priority of 52.8%, is a critical component of sustainability. Finally, several key indicators are recommended for decision-makers to address sustainability. Allocating national budgets to create environmental policies and increasing public education on environmental issues are two priorities for achieving sustainability goals. However, future studies should utilize the Analytic Network Process (ANP), which enables interdependencies among decision components, as the AHP approach has some limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to investigate how natural resources rents impact environmental sustainability measured by CO2 emissions and PM2.5 air pollution in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) economies from 1995 to 2019. To enhance robust policy implications, natural resources are decomposed into disaggregated (coal, gas, oil, forest, and mineral rents) and aggregated (total natural resources rents) indicators. Besides, the intervening roles of affluence, urbanization, and green policies vectoring green technological innovation, green finance, green energy, and waste management within the theoretical underpinning of STIRPAT model are considered. The empirical verification is anchored on second-generation estimators entailing Common Correlated Effects Mean Group, Augmented Mean Group, and Panel Quantile Regression. Similarly, Fully Modified OLS is employed to gauge the country-specific effects amidst varying robustness analyses. The fallouts from the analyses reveal that natural resources rents inhibit the attainments of environmental sustainability in BRICS economies by positively driving CO2 emissions and PM2.5 air pollution. Conversely, green policies are observed to substantially drive environmental sustainability by mitigating both pollutants whereas affluence and urbanization escalate them. The distributional effects from Panel Quantile Regression and Fully Modified OLS corroborate the main findings divergently. Additionally, two channels of causality, including unidirectional and bidirectional nexuses, are apparent from the estimated models. Policy measures are suggested based on the empirical findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I study if industrial decarbonisation yields elevated perceptions of political and economic unfairness. Decarbonising industry is central for the Green Transition, but it will disproportionately affect regions where brown sectors, which have been made uncompetitive, are concentrated. I contribute to studies on political consequences of the Green Transition by exploring perceived unfairness as one outcome from these uneven effects. In regions where industrial decarbonisation and employment declines in brown sectors have been greater than in other regions, residents may feel that they have disproportionately borne the economic costs of industrial decarbonisation for their country, and may consider their governments to have neglected their interests. I test these expectations in 60 West European regions using past (2013–2018) employment and CO2 emissions trends from the three most carbon-polluting sectors, as proxies for industrial decarbonisation accompanied by employment declines in brown sectors, and combined them with micro-level data from the European Social Survey (2018). I find that regions exhibit elevated perceptions of economic and political unfairness only when they experience both relative CO2 emissions and employment decline in these sectors. As perceived unfairness underpins some of the political discontent observed today, this finding highlights the need for Green Transition policies that minimise labour market disruptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the international community attempts to unite to combat climate change, American party politics could hardly be more divided on this issue. This paper offers an additional explanation for how US congressional politics on environmental policy has polarized: the ongoing education realignment in American party politics. As the Democratic Party increasingly relies on college-educated voters and the opposite is true for the Republican Party, this can affect the parties' positions on environmental policy based on public opinion research which finds a positive relationship between education and pro-environment attitudes. Using League of Conservation Voters legislative scorecards from 1983 to 2020, this paper finds the education realignment contributed to the removal of pro-environment Republicans and anti-environment Democrats in Congress in recent decades; and this primarily occurred through elite replacement rather than conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution now affects 92 percent of the global population and is responsible for one out of nine deaths, nearly two thirds of which occur in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific. Emerging work on the political ecology of air pollution examines how its noxious effects are unevenly distributed across social categories such as race and class. Geographers know much less about the social mechanisms through which air pollution and its risks and mitigation efforts are calculated, however. Situated within northern Thailand's haze crisis and its broader agrarian transitions, we employ ethnographic and geospatial methods to theorize air pollution as a boundary object. Throughout the region, uncertainty over the causes and constitution of air pollution and its flexible interpretation have driven the development of civil society sensor networks and the adoption of portable Air Quality Index monitors and hot spot locating apps. These increasingly widespread technologies not only democratize data but also play a growing role in shifting environmental narratives of seasonal air pollution. By homing in on the boundary work of air pollution, however, we argue that although new, more widely accessible modes of knowledge production can seemingly reduce uncertainty and shift environmental policy, they can also obscure the long-standing political-economic inequalities on which environmental problems are based. This article advances current debates at the nexus of political ecology and science and technology by demonstrating how particulate matter matters differently within and between social groups and the role of sociality in environmental change and the production of political space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades, the European Union has affected spatial planning in the member states through its environmental policies. To investigate the mechanism by which EU policy becomes joined up to spatial planning, we invoke the concept of 'coupling' from systems and organizational science. We show that coupling is established not only at the EU policymaking level (e.g. within a directive's text), but also during implementation and enforcement. Consequently, it is possible to actively 'manage' coupling either by enhancing its flexibility on paper or by limiting its activation in practice. Drawing on three case studies in the Netherlands, we show that various (de)coupling strategies can be applied, but none are completely satisfactory or risk-free. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using panel data for Chinese listed firms from 2009 to 2015, this research examines the impact of the green credit policy on the audit fees of heavily polluting firms by adopting a difference-in-difference (DID) model. The results show that the green credit policy increases the audit fees of heavily polluting firms, suggesting that auditors can perceive the risks imposed by the green credit policy on heavily polluting firms. Mechanism tests reveal that the implementation of the green credit policy increases audit fees by increasing the financing cost and reducing the loan maturity. Further research shows that the positive effect is more significant in regions with stronger regulatory environments and higher trust, and among firms without political connections and audited by the top-ten domestic audit firms. The Chinese government should actively encourage third-party financial institutions to participate in firms' environmental governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Amazon is a complex object of policy that comprises environmental, economic, social, and sovereignty concerns. Despite this complexity, governments are often portrayed as having a single understanding of the region as a political problem. In this article, we investigate how the Amazon has been constructed as a problem in 6240 Brazilian presidential speeches since 1985 using supervised machine learning. Conceptually, we develop a framework that accounts for how important transnational actors, such as presidents, construct objects of policy as particular problems depending on where and when they participate in politics. Empirically, we find that presidents often construct the Amazon as an environmental problem when speaking far away from the region, whereas they usually construct it as problems of economic integration or social development when speaking within in the Amazon. Furthermore, presidents increasingly mix problem-constructions to represent the Amazon as a complex and multifaceted object of policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of corporate political spending on environmental policy has drawn numerous attention from researchers and policymakers. However, few studies have analyzed the empirical effect of corporate spending on environmental policy in aggregate. In this study, I analyze the impact of corporate independent spending bans on state environmental policy, utilizing the repeal of such bans in 23 states following the 2010 Supreme Court's Citizens United decision as a research design. Through difference-in-differences tests, I find no evidence that the removal of independent expenditure bans influenced state environmental policy, regulations, or outcomes, or overall policy liberalism. I also find that corporate direct contributions did not increase in treated states, which may explain the lack of environmental policy effects. These results demonstrate that corporations did not utilize the new spending avenue after Citizens United to influence state environmental policy in aggregate and raise questions concerning corporate political spending and environmental preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much effort has been devoted to understanding how trade openness is linked to technological progress. Less documented is the effect on green technology, which is particularly important as it is green technological progress that alleviates environmental degradation while improving economic growth. To fill the void, this paper empirically examines whether trade openness drives green technology development and whether the effect depends on the extent of trade openness and environmental policy stringency. In a sample covering both advanced and developing countries, the paper finds that green technology first decreases and then rises with increased trade openness, meaning that a sufficient level of trade openness is required for green technological progress. Tighter environmental policy is also found to weaken the beneficial effect of trade openness on green technological progress, implying that lax environmental policy creates a better environment for more open countries to develop green technology. However, these effects vary across countries, depending on the origin and destination of trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differentiation has become a core feature not only in the European integration process but also in the implementation of European policies. Among the means to address differentiated implementation are European Administrative Networks (EANs). Through the exchange of information, best practices and advice, EANs are expected to contribute to more uniform implementation. However, the ways and extent to which they do so remain largely unexplored. This article addresses this gap through the empirical analysis of the European Network of Heads of Environmental Protection Agencies (EPA Network), drawing on a unique survey dataset and social network analysis. On the one hand, the findings uncover the EPA Network as a voluntary and informal network with a fragmented and clustered structure around key members. At the same time, several participants have recognised the network as a valuable asset to improving national implementation and developing innovative policy initiatives. Therefore, while there is significant diversity within and across the network, the network's perceived contributions and added value point to the considerable importance of these instruments in EU policy implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Biodiversity offsetting' aims to address the residual negative environmental impacts of human development. It's goal is to achieve No Net Loss (NNL), and preferably a Net Gain of biodiversity attributes between development and offset sites. Biodiversity offsetting suffers from a lack of 'proof of concept', as little work has been done to critically test the ecological efficacy of offsetting practices. Offsetting of stream ecological functions was investigated in Aotearoa New Zealand, via review of regulatory documentation for 76 offsets and field assessments of 14 offset sites. Field results indicated some functions, including fish passage connectivity, respond rapidly post-offset enhancement whilst others exhibit recovery lags (such as fish spawning habitat provision). However, most offsets were considered unlikely to achieve NNL due to failures in practice and process. Factors included inadequate consideration for restoration uncertainty, inappropriate monitoring conditions, insufficient data and inequivalent trade-offs. Key linkages between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, particularly regarding floodplain connectivity, were poorly considered in offset implementation. Thus, development may be occurring based on inadequate regulatory processes, and poorly evaluated ecological outcomes. These findings join a growing body of evidence which indicates that, in the context of a global biodiversity crisis, offsetting is not achieving its purpose of NNL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy growth is a ubiquitous feature of modern democracies that has attracted increased attention in political science and beyond. However, the literature is characterised by considerable disagreement on why policy growth occurs. Existing explanations centre on the influence of (1) public demands, (2) interest group politics, (3) electoral competition, and (4) institutional fragmentation. While all four explanations are plausible, there are no studies that assess their relative explanatory power within a single empirical analysis. This article provides such an analysis by examining the drivers of policy growth in 21 OECD countries from 1976 to 2020 in the area of environmental policy. We identify strong ties between organised interests and the government as the primary driver of policy growth. Public demands and institutional fragmentation are relevant but comparatively less important factors, while the intensity of electoral competition has no influence on policy growth. These findings have important implications for our understanding of the functioning of democracy in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The political linkages between trade and environmental policy have rapidly increased since 1990. In this paper, I suggest a novel mechanism behind this phenomenon – ‘defensive issue linkage.’ As the scope of trade law expanded, it increasingly touched upon domestic and international environmental policies. As a result, environmental groups mobilized to seek carve-outs that preserve their traditional policy space. However, their opposition also led to the increased inclusion of proactive clauses that further the linkage between trade and the environment as policymakers strove to bolster ratifying coalitions. Using qualitative evidence from the US, EU, and Malaysia, I show that environmental groups mobilize in reaction to the expanding scope of trade policies and explore how this influences trade agreement content. A quantitative analysis of preferential trade agreements concluded between 1989 and 2016 then shows that general patterns of environmental clause inclusion are consistent with the channel of ‘defensive issue linkage.’ [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental sustainability has been a key policy goal of the European Union (EU), particularly under recent EU Cohesion Policy strategic frameworks. This paper contributes to the analysis of the relevance of EU Cohesion Policy-related environmental sustainability investments, by assessing the impacts of the Operational Programme for Sustainability and Use of Resources (POSEUR 2014–2020), in the Portuguese North NUTS II. In detail, the impact scores of the following five analytical dimensions related to this programme were obtained: (i) low-emissions economy, (ii) adaptation to climate change, (iii) risk prevention and management, (iv) environmental protection and (v) resource efficiency. The analysis was supported by a territorial impact assessment methodology (TARGET_TIA) which was complemented by an online analytic geographic information system (GIS) policy evaluation platform (Impact-WEB_GIS). The results showed that the POSEUR's regional implementation efficiency fell short of the stakeholders' expectations. This can be explained by factors such as the obstacles posed by the prior underdeveloped infrastructural conditions, coupled with the panorama created by the Covid-19 outbreak. Nonetheless, the risk prevention and management dimension had a solid positive impact score that reflected the efficacy of POSEUR in tackling environmental threats, mostly in rural ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article articulates the historical entanglement of Ireland's big tech ecosystem with earlier forms of economic development and state-sanctioned polluting practices, particularly focusing on strategies for attracting multinational companies since the 1960s. The outsourcing of polluting multinational industries to Ireland's rural regions has a long history, one tied into fault-lines of the country's postcolonial condition and developmental economy in the 1970s and 1980s. During this era of economic liberalisation, Ireland's environmental politics were frequently organised against the outsourcing of toxic chemical, pharmaceutical, and technological industries to rural Ireland. Ireland's position as a western European nation-state undoubtedly means that wealth accumulated via these industries merits complicity in the global supply chains sustaining "green" extractivism in the Global South. But rural Ireland also bears an uneven share of responsibility for these industries, whose destructive externalities are often imposed on these places through large-scale infrastructures. Historical struggles for environmental justice in these rural sites foreground access to land, livelihoods, health, and cultures of place. Contributing to recent debates on the colonial endurances of contemporary "green" development, we argue that these rural movements should be a starting point for a "just" transition attuned to anti-imperialist goals in Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While policies pile up in modern democracies, the effect of policy growth on policy implementation has not been addressed so far. Implementation research has focused on individual policies instead of studying the challenges implementation organizations face in dealing with growing policy stocks. In this paper, we address this research gap in three ways. First, we introduce the novel concept of organizational 'policy triage' which captures implementation effectiveness from an organizational rather than a policy-based perspective. Second, we develop a theoretical framework to account for variations in the prevalence of policy triage across organizations. We argue that policy triage is affected by the interplay of several factors related to (1) organizational overload vulnerability and (2) organizational overload compensation. Third, we provide an initial empirical test of our conceptual and theoretical considerations through four comparative case studies on environmental policy implementation in Ireland and England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water management involves the provision of water uses and benefits for people and communities, with direct environmental justice implications. Beyond water supply for physiological survival, people depend on water systems for material and non-material values. Understanding how different communities value water and prioritize its protection is critical to effective water governance. We use a psychometric water values scale administered through two survey research study designs to explore how socially and culturally diverse Minnesota residents value water. While some values are universally shared (e.g., safe drinking water), other values and priorities vary by sociocultural identities. Survey results reveal how race, ethnicity, and gender identities are associated with different water values and priorities. We conclude that water science and policy need more inclusive understanding and representation of the diversity of water relationships, experiences, and values across the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To preserve their collections, heritage institutions must understand and mitigate causes of damage, including environmental factors. Historically at the British Library this was addressed by policies developed over decades—frequently without overarching guidance—and in response to changing requirements. As a result, these policies were often disjointed, complex and unrepresentative of current practice. This article addresses the review, revision and application of policy. This is informed by a focus on collection needs that incorporate human, operational and practical requirements; the pragmatic understanding of contributory issues; and sufficient flexibility to encourage engagement and support Library activities without jeopardising collection safety. The revised policy has afforded a variety of benefits, not least that it is a single, concise document. It provides explicit reference to material types and vulnerabilities, and the requirements of operational activities, emphasising preventive conservation concerns. It is accessible to other stakeholders, encouraging effective collaboration and leading to achievable outcomes, benefitting the institution as a whole. As such it has strengthened the role of preventive conservation within the Library, and provided a solid and adaptable basis for future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a global environmentality framework to critique efforts to "green" the Belt and Road Initiative (or Green BRI) by examining the Chinese state's environmental governance of extraterritorial spaces. The article transcends a focus within governmentality studies on domestic processes to reveal the relations between governance techniques and environmental subjects, including state and nonstate actors, beyond sovereign borders. Drawing on interviews, observations, and analysis of policies and reports, we identify three ways in which global environmentalities operate and are negotiated through the Green BRI. First, the Chinese state is embracing international sustainable development criteria to gain global legitimacy while seeking to export its domestic environmental governance model, making the Green BRI a dialectic policy. Second, the state is targeting and disciplining BRI participants, including Chinese financial institutions, construction companies, the renewable industry, and foreign state actors in BRI countries. Third, Chinese and BRI partner country participants' variegated subjectivities arise out of the negotiation of their own interests, Chinese state interests, and BRI host country concerns. Our analysis contributes to understanding of how China, as a rising power, engages in global environmental governance and produces extraterritorial environmental subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a conceptual and analytical framework of states' legitimacy-seeking to comprehensively investigate the motivation behind China's climate and environment policy. While previous research has largely overlooked political factors that underlie China's climate policy, this paper argues that these factors are crucial in understanding China's policy changes, which are evident at both domestic and international levels. By examining sources such as government documents, leaders' speeches and authoritative literature, this study contends that China's climate change initiatives are part of a broader effort to enhance domestic and international legitimacy. The issue of climate change has become highly politicised in China under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, and it serves as a crucial test of the ruling party and the state's capacity to govern effectively. As such, legitimacy-seeking is the key driver that links China's domestic measures and international commitments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Aren't poverty and need the biggest polluters?," asked Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at the 1972 Stockholm Conference on Human Environment. Half a century later, environmentalists, journalists, politicians, and academics interpret the speech to their liking. We contextualize and juxtapose this historical speech vis-à-vis environmental policies, programs, and campaigns enacted under Gandhi's leadership. A reassessment of these debates opens possibilities beyond the polarized arguments that pit "the environment" against "development" within contemporary global environmental governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the story of the Na'amien swamp south of Acre, one of Palestine's most extensive swamps, an area where many plans to control it were begun and failed throughout the Mandatory period but were only finally addressed following the establishment of the State of Israel. Colonial and Zionist environmental stances often point to similar views regarding land development and the advantages Mandatory rule provided the Zionist movement at the expense of the Arab-Palestinian population. This article will argue that the environmental British policy was not formulated merely due to similarities and common interests of the authorities and the Zionists. There was also a complex set of considerations typified by internal contradictions, varying interpretations of progress as justification for colonialism, and changing responses to local economic and political developments and to changing British interests in the European arena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use/cover (LULC) changes significantly impact various environmental and social factors. In this study, we used a hybrid model that integrates Multi-Layer Perceptron-Markov Chain Analysis to forecast changes in LULC of Chennai city and its surrounding area until the year 2101. We also evaluated the impact of these changes on groundwater recharge potential zones (RPZ) and suggested policy recommendations for better urban planning. Our results indicate a rapid increase in built-up areas (238 km2/decade) and a corresponding decrease in agricultural lands (167 km2/decade), with a continuous reduction in the area occupied by the waterbodies (15 km2/decade). Furthermore, the estimated changes in RPZ demonstrate a decline in high recharge potential areas, emphasizing the need for effective policies to enhance groundwater recharge. The study provides insights into sustainable urban development. We recommended policies for promoting green urban spaces to mitigate LULC impacts on groundwater recharge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protected areas have long been the leading strategy to combat habitat fragmentation. However, studies have shown that this traditional approach can create habitat islands where populations are isolated, leading to their eventual extinction. As a result, conservation strategies have shifted to include more landscape-focused methods, including conservation corridors and ecological networks. However, what is not yet known is the extent to which South Africa's legislative and policy frameworks support this move. We identified and reviewed legislation and policies on conservation and protected areas in South Africa between 1976 to 2021 and outlined their shortcomings regarding a shift towards landscape-focused initiatives. None of the seven acts reviewed describe, protect, or enforce progressive landscape-based conservation methods. South Africa's environmental legislation is embedded in establishing and creating traditional protected areas while disregarding other methods. Moreover, the non-statutory policies reviewed were monotonous and had a limited scope that failed to provide an integrated and coordinated approach to conservation. Despite the plethora of protected area legislation and policies, South Africa's conservation approaches remain uninspiring and steadfast in traditional methods and have failed to evolve in 45 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employee green creativity is a key aspect of achieving low-carbon goals. Yet the proximal driving factors related to the creators of underlying green creativity have been largely understudied. Based on regulatory focus theory, we introduce the concept of perceived value of green creativity (PVGC) to explore how it affects employee green creativity. Using a time-lagged research design, 311 paired datasets were collected from front-line managers and employees of Chinese luxury hotels. The results show that PVGC significantly enhances employee green creativity. Green creativity intrinsic motivation (GCIM, promotion focus) and green image preservation motivation (GIPM, prevention focus) mediate the relationship between PVGC and employee green creativity. We further find that the mediating role of promotion focus is stronger than that of prevention focus. The moderating effect of green mindfulness is apparent in the PVGC–GCIM relationship but not the PVGC–GIPM relationship. The novel concept of PVGC can extend research on perceived value to the green management field and even deepen the investigation of the factors that drive employee green creativity. The results have important implications for the promotion of hotel employee green creativity in response to the ongoing green transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green industries and companies provide crucial political support for ambitious environmental policy. In this article, I examine through which mechanisms green business interests influence international environmental negotiations. I theorize technology-based arguing as an influence mechanism that builds on combined technological and discursive power and can outstrip relational and structural business power rooted in material resources. I probe these propositions in a process-tracing case study of new wastewater regulations for ships in the Baltic Sea negotiated in the Helsinki Commission and International Maritime Organization. I find that green business built, expanded, and sustained state support for ambitious nutrient removal standards by persuasively arguing that advanced treatment was feasible. Provision of tangible evidence of technology development, availability, and uptake undermined the influence of reluctant and materially superior business interests. I conclude that even small green business actors can facilitate ambitious environmental policy when communication channels between innovators and policymakers are strong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]