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These organizations have joined together to recommend the principles presented below. The document concludes with anticipated next steps, which point toward a toolkit of best practices, guidelines, governance frameworks, and possibly codes of practice by the major sets of private actors.

The primary objective of the Southern Gobi Regional Environmental Assessment (REA) is to provide guidance for sustainable management of environmental resources in the future development of the Southern Gobi Region (SGR), development that will be led by rapid expansion of mining. The REA defines two development scenarios-a base-case and a high case-and explores their direct and indirect impacts on the natural environment, taking into account the opportunities, constraints, and vulnerabilities of the Gobi natural systems; the individual and cumulative direct environmental impacts and potential indirect impacts of the planned development; and, at a general level, the institutional capacity to manage the impacts. The REA target audience includes government officials at central, regional, and local levels; private sector investors and the consultants who are engaged for project design and environmental impact assessment; development finance organizations; and Mongolian civil society. This report was discussed in draft form at stakeholder workshops held in Ulaanbaatar and Dalanzagdad in April 2009 and has been revised to reflect comments received. Thanks are due to all those who joined those discussions. The report draws on information from workshops held in Mongolia, in May, September, and October 2008, and a field mission to the Southern Gobi Region in November 2008. Other information was obtained from various mining companies in Mongolia including Ivanhoe mines Mongolia, Inc., and its consultant Eco Trade; Rio Tinto; Energy Resources LLC; and South Gobi Sands.

Objetivou-se com este trabalho avaliar a competitividade interespecífica de biótipos de capim-arroz resistente (R) e suscetível (S) ao herbicida quinclorac com a cultura do arroz irrigado. O experimento foi instalado em casa de vegetação e os tratamentos consistiram em manter uma planta de arroz cv. BRS Pelota no centro da unidade experimental, variando-se na periferia as densidades de capim-arroz em: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 ou 5 plantas do biótipo R (ITJ-13) ou S (ITJ-17) oriundos da região de Itajaí-SC. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi o completamente casualizado, em esquema fatorial 2 x 6 com quatro repetições. Aos 40 dias após a emergência, foram avaliados as massas fresca e seca e o conteúdo de água de folhas, colmos e total da parte aérea do arroz e do capim-arroz. Houve efeito significativo dos tratamentos para todas as variáveis estudadas quando a cultura do arroz foi cultivada na presença de biótipos de capim-arroz R ou S. Esse efeito foi aditivo na proporção de 1 planta m -2 . Entretanto, a capacidade competitiva dos biótipos de capim-arroz resistente e suscetível ao quinclorac, com as plantas de arroz, apresentou comportamento similar quando se variou a densidade de plantas por área. This work aimed to evaluate the interspecific competitiveness of Echinochloa spp. biotypes resistant or susceptible to the herbicide quinclorac. The trial was installed under greenhouse conditions, with the biotypes resistant (ITJ-13) and susceptible (ITJ-17) to quinclorac under competition with the rice plants. The treatments consisted of maintaining one rice plant at the center of the experimental unit, surrounded by 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 Echinochloa plants, according to the treatment. The trial was arranged in a completely randomized blocks design and factorial scheme 2 x 6, with four replications. Forty days after emergence, fresh dry weights and water content of the shoots were evaluated. There was a significant effect for all the variables when the rice was grown in the presence of R or S. Echinochloa spp. This effect was additive in the proportion of one plant m -2. However, the competitive capacity of R and S to quinclorac Echinochloa spp biotypes against the rice plants showed similar behavior when plant density per area varied.

In this paper, the authors discuss the ways in which national governments, firms, and individuals respond to policy related to food safety, environmental protection, and trade. These responses must be considered in the development of policy to ensure the best possible outcomes. It accounts for uncertainty about policy impacts and scientific knowledge and incorporates stochastic environmental factors. The authors argue use of such a model in the development of health and environmental policy can overcome capture by domestic forces opposed to trade liberalization. The effectiveness of policy, of course, is dependent upon firm and consumer response to policy. Section one describes the impacts of international transfer of species and genetic material, paying particular attention to the introduction of alien invasive species. Section two discusses issues surrounding trade in environmental amenities. Food safety and environmental regulations are reviewed in section three, along with mechanisms by which such policy can serve as a proxy for protectionists. Section four develops a risk assessment model that can be used in policy design. Section five considers the role of institutional, firm and individual behavior in the development and effectiveness of policy. Section six summarizes our analysis in offering an agenda for trade talks.

Intercropping (IC) is known as an agricultural practice which can improve the use of environmental resources (light, nutrients and water) resulting in yield advantages compared to sole cropping (SC) (Willey, 1979) particularly in low input systems. But, diseases ands pests can strongly affect both yield and grain quality in such systems. Now, numerous studies have shown significant reductions in harmful insects and on diseases in IC compared to SC of the same species (Vandermeer, 1989; Kinane and Lyngkjaer, 2002) even if others studies did not confirmed these foundings. The aim of our study was to evaluate the assumption that IC can reduce pea pests (green aphids and weevils), pea ascochyta and main durum wheat diseases (mildew, brown rust, fusarium and septoria).

This report was written in 2008 in the wake of a World Bank mission to Mongolia in 2007. The team identified that the South Gobi region is poised for a major boom in economic activity, with a foundation based on planned development of mines of world class significance. The Mongolian Parliament is considering an greement with Ivanhoe Mines for the development of a copper and gold mine at Oyu Tolgoi, and a shareholder agreement that relates to proposed development of a coal mine at Tavan Tolgoi. Other proposed mines in the relatively near future include copper and molybdenum at Tsagaan Suvraga (TS) and export coal at Nariin Sukhait. It is likely that infrastructure development in the region will spur the development of additional mines and associated industries. The following discussion sets out the major infrastructure, environment, and regional development issued identified by the October mission of the World Bank.

The operations policy on Development Policy Lending (DPL), approved by the Board in August 2004, requires that the Bank systematically analyze whether specific country policies supported by an operation are likely to have "significant effects" on the country's environment, forests, and other natural resources. The implicit objective behind this requirement is to ensure that there is adequate capacity in the country to deal with adverse effects on the environment, forests, and other natural resources that the policies could trigger, even at the program design stage. DPL operations are associated with a whole array of policies such as macro policy reforms, fiscal policies, and specific sectoral policies, particularly in key sectors such as agriculture, health and education, energy, etc. In some cases, the operation may deal directly with reforms in certain environmentally sensitive sectors such as energy, transport, water and sanitation, agriculture, and forestry. In these cases, there is an obvious need for careful analysis of environmental, natural resource, and forestry impacts. In other cases, such as public sector reform and governance, there is less potential for likely significant impacts on the natural environment and natural resources. The toolkit is designed to be concise and user-friendly. It consists of three specific modules. The first module identifies relevant transmission channels through which the proposed reform would have a likely effect on the identified environmental, forest, and other natural resource priorities. The second module provides assistance in identifying key environmental issues in the country, regions, or sectors likely to be influenced by the DPL program. The third module presents different tools and methodologies for rapid assessment of the likely significant effects of each reform.

В процессе использования в качестве средств труда, экологические ресурсы окружающей природной среды подвергаются активному антропогенному воздействию, что выражается в нарушении их структур, в загрязнении, которое в конечном итоге влияет на жизнедеятельность производителей и сажается в виде экономического ущерба. При цитировании документа, используйте ссылку http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/18618

International audience

O manejo sustentado de agroecossistemas passa pelo planejamento de uso dos mesmos, para o que necessita serem avaliados os recursos naturais e as condições sociais, culturais e econômicas dos habitantes. Técnicas de geoprocessamento e sensoriamento remoto, que permitem avaliar os recursos de grandes áreas e anexá-los a bancos de dados georreferenciados, foram utilizados para caracterizar o meio físico e planejar o uso da fazenda El Pantanoso, Departamento de Cerro Largo, Uruguai. Dados topográficos, planialtimétricos, de solo e uso atual, foram usados para gerar os planos de informação: mapa base, modelo numérico do terreno, declividade, solos, aptidão de uso agrícola dos solos, uso atual, zoneamento ambiental e conflitos de uso. A pesquisa mostra que a região apresenta Planossolos, Argissolos, Chernossolos, Vertissolos, Organossolos, Neossolos e Gleissolos e que os mesmos apresentam ampla faixa de aptidão de uso, o que facilita seu zoneamento ambiental. Considerando-se que a tradicional pecuária desenvolvida nas áreas de topografia ondulada e arroz nas várzeas, constitui o uso adequado dos solos, então lavouras de arroz encontradas ao longo dos sistemas de drenagem, onde deveria ser mantida a vegetação ciliar natural, constitui o principal conflito de uso relacionado ao zoneamento ambiental da região. O geoprocessamento e sensoriamento remoto mostraram-se eficientes no planejamento de uso da Fazenda Pantanoso. The sustainable management of agro-ecological systems go through the planning of their use. To reach this objective, the natural resources as well as the social, cultural and economical conditions of the inhabitants of the study area need to be evaluated. Remote sensing and geoprocessing techniques, which permit the evaluation of the natural resources and organize georeferenced data bases, were applied to characterize the physical environment and to plan the use of the El Pantanoso Farm, Cerro Largo Department, Uruguay. Topographic, planialtimetric, soil and present land use data were used to generate the following information plans or levels: basic map, numerical model of the terrain, slope, soils, land capabilities map, present land use, environmental zoning and land use conflicts. The data obtained show that at the Pantanoso farm, Planosols (Albaqualfs, Natraqualfs), Argisols (Paleudults, Rodudalfs), Chernosols (Argiudolls), Vertisols (Paluderts), Gleysols (Haplaquolls) , Organosols (Histosols) and Lithosols (Hapludolls), predominate and that these soils present ample variation of classes of land capabilities, which facilitates their agroecological zoning If we consider that cattle-raising at the upland soil and cultivation of rice at lowlands, constitutes adequate land use, than the rice fields found along the drainage systems, where the natural gallery vegetation should have been maintained, constitute the main conflict related to the agroecological zoning of the farm. Remote sensing and geoprocessing techniques were efficient tools on the planning of the Pantanoso Farm.

Nature-based tourism has grown in importance in recent decades, and strong links have been established between it and ecotourism. This reflects rising incomes, greater levels of educational attainment and changing values, especially in the Western world. Nature-based tourism is quite varied. Different types of such tourism are identified and their consequences for sustainability of their resource-base are briefly considered. The development and management of nature-based tourism involves many economic aspects, several of which are discussed. For example, one must consider the economics of reserving or protecting land for this type of tourism. What economic factors should be taken into account? Economists stress the importance of taking into account the opportunity costs involved in such a decision. This concept is explained. However, determining the net economic value of an area used for tourism is not straightforward. Techniques for doing this, such as the travel cost method and stated value methods, are introduced. Natural areas reserved for tourism may have economic value not only for tourism but also jointly for other purposes, such as conserving wildlife, maintaining hydrological cycles and so on. These other purposes, should be taken into account when considering the use of land for nature-based tourism. According to one economic point of view, land should be used in a way that maximises its total economic value. While this approach has its merits, it does not take into account the distribution of benefits from land use and its local impacts on income and employment. These can be quite important politically and for nature conservation, and are discussed. Finally, there is some discussion of whether fees charged to tourists for access to environmental resources should discriminate between domestic tourists and foreigners.

Some of the most profound changes in the littoral have arisen from direct decisions by man concerning land use, and these have affected both the quality of environmental resources, such as soils and water and the sustainability of coastal ecosystems. Land use decisions in coastal areas are based on opportunities and constraints affected by both biophysical and socio-economic drivers, being land use and land use changes one of the main issues integrating the large debate on sustainable development. The need to integrate natural and social sciences in order to identify questions and eventually find solutions, concerning measuring, monitoring and managing the development of coastal areas has been the main purpose of the interdisciplinary research project held in India: “Measuring, monitoring and managing sustainability: the coastal dimension”. The research was conducted in accordance with the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response framework and the main drivers analysed were tourism, intensive agriculture/aquaculture and industry.

Based on more than 240 real-life examples in over 60 countries, Developing Value is the first large-scale study analyzing the business case for sustainability in emerging markets, the opportunity for businesses to achieve benefits such as higher sales, reduced costs and lower risks from better corporate governance, improved environmental practices, and investments in social and economic development. It pinpoints the many opportunities available to diverse businesses in Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. The report aims to help business people in emerging markets, identify opportunities to increase profits, by making progress on sustainability. It provides tools to assess, and conduct each business case, analyzing relevancy to emerging markets, i.e., opportunities for businesses to achieve high sales, reduced costs, and lower risks, from improved governance, environmental practices, and investments in socioeconomic development. The companies examined are ordinary businesses taking practical steps to address issues, and, evidence shows there are compelling reasons for action. Other specific opportunities to pursue sustainability include building regulations, developing human capital, and improving access to capital. All these opportunities are documented through case studies from Brazil, China, the Czech Republic, and South Africa. The study further examines variations in businesses by region, and company size, i.e., for small and medium sized enterprises, national companies, and multinational corporations, as well as foreign multinationals headquartered in developed countries, in addition to export-oriented companies, and those focused on domestic markets. Significantly, the study presents a business success case matrix, related to key aspects of sustainability, and recognized business factors, discussing practical steps towards implementation of strategies, priorities, and monitoring. The report is a joint effort by the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank, SustainAbility (United Kingdom), and Ethos Institute - Business and Social Responsibility (Brazil)

Major changes are needed if Africans and their children are to claim the 21st century. With the rapidly growing population, 5 percent annual growth is needed simply to keep the number of poor from rising. Halving severe poverty by 2015 will require annual growth of more than 7 percent, along with a more equitable distribution of income. Trends in Africa will need to change radically for a catch-up process to materialize. This will require determined leadership within Africa. It will require better governance developing stable and representative constitutional arrangements, implementing the rule of law, managing resources transparently, and delivering services effectively to communities and firms. It will require greater investment in Africas people as well as measures that encourage private investment in infrastructure and production. And it will require better support and perhaps more support from the international development community. In facing these challenges, Africa has enormous potential including the potential of its women, who now provide more than half of the regions labor but lack equal access to education and factors of production. This report brings together the recent body of work particularly that emanating from Africa itself to show how some African countries are approaching common issues. African economies and sub-regions are diverse and each will have to find its way to address the challenges of the 21st century.

Through a survey the authors study willingness to pay for improvements in air quality in Sofia, Bulgaria. Using a stochastic payment car approach - asking respondents the likelihood that they would agree to pay a series of prices - they estimate the distribution of willingness to pay various prices. They find that people in Sofia are willing to pay up to about 4.2 percent of their income for a program to improve air quality. The income elasticity of willingness to pay for air quality improvements is about 27 percent. For comparison, they also used the referendum contingent valuation approach. Results from that approach yielded a higher estimate of willingness to pay.

Farmers' decisions to adopt Integrated Pest Management (IPM) technologies depend on the profitability of IPM systems relative to the traditional production methods. Government policies may affect the profitability of the IPM technologies. A linear programming model was developed and used to evaluate the economic incentives for adoption of Integrated Pest Mangement (IPM) practices by Jamaican farmers in Ebony Park, Clarendon. Further analysis was completed to determine the affect of policy changes on the profitability of the IPM systems. The objective function of the model was to maximize net returns above variable costs for the farm and included: ten cropping systems, resource constraints, relative prices, and government policies facing the farm. Resource constraints included risk constraints limiting the maximum acreage planted for each crop. Potential crops grown by the farm included: IPM and conventional hot pepper, IPM and conventional sweet potato, IPM and conventional callaloo, corn, pumpkin, cassava, and sugar cane. The trade and domestic policies incorporated into the model were: preclearance (farm level inspections of exportable harvest), elimination of the concessionary water rates to farmers, lowering the duty concession rate to farmers, lowering the Common External Tariff, appreciation of the real exchange rate, elimination of the credit subsidy and a fall in the real interest rate. The results of the model showed four major conclusions. First, the IPM systems for hot pepper, sweet potato and callaloo were more profitable than the conventional systems. Second, within the framework of risk constraints and preclearance, the IPM systems continued to be more profitable than the conventional practices. Third, the elimination of either the water or credit subsidies currently available to the farmers did not greatly affect the profitability of the IPM systems compared with the profitability of conventional production. Fourth, with a lower real interest rate, the elimination of the duty concession, a lowering of the Common External Tariff (CET) or an appreciation of the real exchange rate, the IPM systems were more profitable than the conventional technologies. Four implications arose from the conclusions. First, extension efforts towards farmers should emphasize the increase in profits from the IPM technologies. Second, policy steps designed to liberalize the domestic economy will not require offsetting policies supporting the adoption of IPM by farmers in Clarendon. Further research is needed on the effects of water availability on IPM adoption and the potential barriers to IPM adoption by female-headed households. Finally, further research is on the economic returns of incorporating preclearance education with IPM. Master of Science

The theory of trade based on differential property rights presented here initiated in Chichilnisky (1991), based on the North-South model introduced in Chichilnisky (1981, 1986). The model and the results in this paper differ however from the previous work in that the dynamics of the renewable resource is crucial to our arguments, while all the other pieces consider instead static economies. The distinctive feature of this paper is that we consider the dynamics of the renewable resource which is used as an input to production, and how this varies with different property rights regimes.

In this review article, the different conditions of the environment which could affect the well-being of the populations living on it are taken into consideration and analysed. A specific attention is paid to the phenomenon of water reduction, land degradation and consequent desertification. Such a phenomenon is particularly worrying in selected regions of the world (the Mediterranean Region and Central Asia) in which a combination of several factors including climate variations, pressure of populations and increased competition for the available resources have a direct consequence on the economical, social and political conditions of the population. In addition, migrations could also take place, increasing the instability of entire regions. A proper management of water resources and the preservation of land and soil resources are essential requisites to counteract the mentioned adverse effects. Such a management is frequently a transboundary concern since it might involve different regions and countries; this is an additional reason for debating the environment degradation issues at the international level and for increasing the awareness of the civil society, the policy makers and governments.

The habitat use of a stream-dwelling Astyanax taeniatus from the State of Rio de Janeiro was investigated. We performed 12 h of underwater observation in a 200 m long stretch in the upper Roncador stream and quantified the following microhabitat descriptors: (i) water velocity, (ii) distance from the stream bank, (iii) substratum, and (iv) water column depth. Microhabitat selectivity was analyzed by comparing the microhabitat used by fish and the microhabitat available in the study site as well as by applying the Ivlev Electivity Index to the microhabitat use data. Differences in the use and availability of the various microhabitats revealed non-stochastic patterns of spatial occupation by A. taeniatus, which was selective for two of the four analyzed microhabitats. Our findings indicated that A. taeniatusis associated with habitats that have higher depths, low water velocity, and sand and bedrock substratum. O uso do micro-habitat por Astyanax taeniatus de riacho do estado do Rio de Janeiro foi investigado. Realizamos 12 h de observações subaquáticas em um trecho de 200 m do alto rio Roncador e quantificamos os seguintes descritores do micro-habitat: (i) velocidade da água, (ii) distância da margem, (iii) substrato, e (iv) profundidade da coluna d'água. A seletividade do micro-habitat foi analisada pela comparação do micro-habitat usado pelos peixes e o micro-habitat disponível na área de estudo, bem como pelo Índice de Eletividade de Ivlev aplicado aos dados de uso do micro-habitat. As diferenças no uso e disponibilidade dos diferentes descritores do micro-habitat revelaram um padrão não aleatório para a ocupação especial por A. taeniatus que foi seletivo para dois dentre quatro descritores analisados. Nossos registros indicaram que A. taeniatusestá associado à habitats com maior profundidade, baixa velocidade da água e substrato de areia e rocha.

In order to support a more effective and environmentally aware resource management, information systems may be designed to integrate relevant information and indicators about the resource and its environment and to make them available to all stakeholders and producers. Moreover, the development of such an information system towards an open, web-based platform supporting not only information retrieval and visualization, but also data collection and sharing, fosters collaborative resource management processes. As an exemple of such an integrated information system supporting knowledge sharing, the paper presents the RIV project, aiming to develop an interactive system for wine-cultivation based on open-source software. For wine-cultivation it is essential to have knowledge about environmental resources (such as water, soils, micro-climate), but also about growing-techniques and other factors. A first step was therefore to calculate and to collect the information of all wine-growing regions in a spatial database. One main idea behind RIV was to spread this information to all actors involved in wine-cultivation business through the Internet. Another important idea behind RIV was to offer a parcel-management system that integrates with the data that has been collected. The users thus add their own data (both spatial- and non-spatial) and save costs. In order to develop RIV we integrated all main actors in the project and in the planning and development process.