Resources, Volume 7, Issue 1 (March 2018) – 23 articles

Mangrove cover is increasing in estuaries and harbours in many areas on North Island, New Zealand. The expansion of mangroves has been attributed to anthropogenic land-use change, including urbanisation and conversion of land to agriculture. Rapid expansion of mangroves in the coastal landscape has created discord in local communities over their importance in terms of the services they deliver to both wildlife and people. Some community groups have been advocates for the large-scale removal of mangrove habitat, whilst other local residents oppose this removal. This review paper investigated and discussed pertinent biodiversity and ecosystem services studies based in New Zealand mangroves from 1950 to 2017. Results showed that the majority of biodiversity studies have targeted particular species or groups of organisms, with a focus on benthic invertebrate communities. Deficits remain in our knowledge of this expanding forest and shrub ecosystem, notably the terrestrial component of biodiversity, species community-shifts with landscape fragmentation, and associated cultural values. It is recommended that broader species assessments and a longer-term approach be applied to biodiversity monitoring in mangroves, coupled with Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and western science for holistic management of this coastal ecosystem. Full article

California is facing a critical water supply and water quality crisis, necessitating a clear shift in the way water resources are managed. This study assesses the effectiveness of water law and policy in the urban-agricultural interface, where the two discharge into common waterways but have different regulatory requirements. A case study from one of California’s most productive agricultural regions, the Salinas Valley, explores the complexities and inadequacies of current water law in the interface, as well as promising integrated water management schemes. The article’s findings are based on archival research, extensive document review and 15 in-depth interviews with key stakeholders. Findings suggest that local, state and federal water policy is severely fragmented, providing little incentive for the multitude of water entities to collaborate on multi-benefit projects and resulting in unsuccessful water quality improvements. There is a strong need for a more integrated policy approach that bridges different types of dischargers (agricultural and urban), water quality and water quantity issues and also incorporates land uses into policy decision making. Full article

Airports play a vital role in the air transport industry value chain, acting as the interface point between the air and surface transport modes. However, substantial volumes of waste are produced as a by-product of the actors’ operations. Waste management is therefore becoming especially important to airports. Using a qualitative and quantitative case study research approach, this paper has examined the waste management strategies and systems at Copenhagen Airport, Scandinavia’s major air traffic hub, from 1999 to 2016. The two major sources of waste at Copenhagen Airport are the waste generated from aircraft serving the airport and the waste arising from ground activities undertaken in the land and airside precincts. The growth in passengers and aircraft movements has had a concomitant impact on the volume of waste generated. Swept waste and sludge are processed by an external provider. Waste generated in the passenger terminals and the airport operator’s facilities is handled at a central container station, where it is sorted for incineration, recycling or for landfill. The environmental impact of the waste produced at the airport is mitigated through the recycling of waste wherever possible. Full article

Residual sludge disposal costs may constitute up to, and sometimes above, 50% of the total cost of operation of a Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) and contribute approximately 40% of the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with its operation. Traditionally, wastewater sludges are processed for: (a) reduction of total weight and volume to facilitate their transfer and subsequent treatments; (b) stabilization of contained organic material and destruction of pathogenic microorganisms, elimination of noxious odors, and reduction of putrefaction potential and, at an increasing degree; (c) value addition by developing economically viable recovery of energy and residual constituents. Among several other processes, pyrolysis of sludge biomass is being experimented with by some researchers. From the process, oil with composition not dissimilar to that of biodiesels, syngas, and a solid residue can be obtained. While the advantage of obtaining sludge-derived liquid and gaseous fuels is obvious to most, the solid residue from the process, or char (also indicated as biochar by many), may also have several useful, initially unexpected applications. Recently, the char fraction is getting attention from the scientific community due to its potential to improve agricultural soils’ productivity, remediate contaminated soils, and supposed, possible mitigation effects on climate change. This paper first discusses sludge-pyrolysis-derived char production fundamentals (including relationships between char, bio-oil, and syngas fractions in different process operating conditions, general char properties, and possible beneficial uses). Then, based on current authors’ experiments with microwave-assisted sludge pyrolysis aimed at maximization of liquid fuel extraction, evaluate specific produced char characteristics and production to define its properties and most appropriate beneficial use applications in this type of setting. Full article

Land fragmentation is a phenomenon that reduces the mechanical management of agricultural and grazing lands and, consequently, leads to the abandonment of agricultural practices in harsh environments. It puts the agricultural and/or agro-pastoral businesses in a difficult situation as they have small surfaces to manage that do not allow for sufficient profit. Some worldwide land consolidation initiatives have been set up to reduce this phenomenon, such as land funds. In this context, this paper is dedicated to an Italian approach, which can be carried over to other realities, aimed at safeguarding and managing territories in harsh environments. This approach, known as the “Associazione Fondiaria (ASFO)”, which can be roughly translated as “land consolidation association”, consolidates small portions of abandoned land in a functional manner. Indeed, a land consolidation association not only stimulates new entrepreneurial agricultural activities, but is also able to create employment in depressed areas. A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis was used to evaluate ASFOs, and their peculiarities were discussed. Full article

Chile has experienced rapid economic growth in recent decades. However, this economic growth has been accompanied by a huge increase in waste generation. Although the country has historically put emphasis on appropriate final disposal of waste through landfill, the environmental problems generated by this activity have shown that it is necessary to improve the national solid waste management approach. Santiago, the capital of Chile, generates about 43% of the national solid waste. A study conducted by the Ministry of the Environment in 2011 found that 14% of the waste generated in the capital is recycled, mostly thanks to local campaigns and collection by the informal sector (scavengers). While in 2009 the government set a target to recycle 25% of municipal inorganic waste by 2020, there is no information on the implementation process to reach this target. Most importantly, the law has not established specific recycling rates for target materials, and, has not taken into consideration organic waste recovery, which accounts for 48% of the total waste stream. In order to meet the government target and at the same time promote organic waste recovery, this study proposes and evaluates the environmental impacts of different viable alternatives for municipal solid waste collection, treatment and recovery by using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The proposed scenarios range from the current situation to the introduction of organic waste recovery and the inclusion of informal recyclers in the collection process. By considering the investment and treatment costs of each alternative, the study identifies the most effective scenario in terms of avoided pollutants per cost ratio. Finally, the study analyzes the feasibility of the implementation of the selected scenario by indicating benefits and challenges. The results of the scenario evaluation suggest that the scenario with the highest recovery of inorganic and organic materials, coupled with the participation of the informal collectors, will have a positive impact not only in terms of meeting and surpassing the government goal, but also in the reduction of CO₂eq emissions. This scenario can reduce by approximately 3.5% the national CO₂eq generated, with a cost of $14.1/ton. Moreover, the potential reductions of CH₄ account for 8.5% of the national CH₄ emissions and 24.5% of the national waste sector CH₄ emissions. Full article

Lead and zinc are used extensively in the construction and automotive industries, and require sustainable supply. In order to understand the future availability of lead and zinc, we have projected global supplies on a country-by-country basis from a detailed global assessment of mineral resources for 2013. The model GeRS-DeMo was used to create projections of lead and zinc production from ores, as well as recycling for lead. Our modelling suggests that lead and zinc production from known resources is set to peak within 15 years (lead 2025, zinc 2031). For lead, the total supply declines relatively slowly post peak due to recycling. If additional resources are found, these peaks would shift further into the future. These results suggest that lead and zinc consumers will need to plan for the future, potentially by: seeking alternative supplies (e.g., mine tailings, smelter/refinery slags); obtaining additional value from critical metals contained in lead-zinc ore deposits to counter lower grade ores; identifying potential substitutes; redesigning their products; or by contributing to the development of recycling industries. Full article

The passage of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) brought with it much anticipation—though in reality, quite limited means—for recognizing and protecting Aboriginal peoples’ rights to land and water across Australia. A further decade passed before national and State water policy acknowledged Aboriginal water rights and interests. In 2015, the native title rights of the Barkandji Aboriginal People in the Australian State of New South Wales (NSW) were recognized after an eighteen-year legal case. This legal recognition represents a significant outcome for the Barkandji People because water and, more specifically, the Darling River, or Barka, is central to their existence. However, the Barkandji confront ongoing struggles to have their common law rights recognized and accommodated within Australian water governance regimes. Informed by literature relating to the politics of recognition, we examine the outcomes of government attempts at Indigenous recognition through four Australian water regimes: national water policy; native title law; NSW water legislation; and NSW water allocation planning. Drawing from the Barkandji’s experiences in engaging with water regimes, we analyze and characterize the outcomes of these recognition attempts broadly as ‘misrecognition’ and ‘non-recognition’, and describe the associated implications for Aboriginal peoples. These manifestations of colonial power relations, whether intended or not, undermine the legitimacy of state water regimes because they fail to generate recognition of, and respect for, Aboriginal water rights and to redress historical legacies of exclusion and discrimination in access to water. Full article

In 2017, the government of Ecuador established the minimum quantity of water required to be provided for free by drinking water utilities. Ecuador recognized the access to water as a fundamental human right because it guarantees the good living, known as “Sumak kawsay”, an indigenous Andean concept, in the Ecuadorian Constitution. This represents a novel approach to water rights in the world, as it is the first attempt to establish a minimum quantity of water under a constitutional guarantee by legislation, rather than regulation or judicial decision. However, this novel legislative approach raises the question of how this minimum amount of free water will impact the most vulnerable members of the Ecuadorian community. This paper provides the results of the first comprehensive research of the minimum required water provision in Ecuador. In order to measure the impact on the income of households, we built a methodology integrating: doctrinaire analyses, normative studies, and economic analyses. According to the Ecuadorian legislation, over-consumption of raw water generates additional costs that must be paid by water companies to the central government. In that regard, there is an inevitable relationship between the efficiency of the service and those additional costs. Efficiency, on this case, is the capacity of water companies (public or private) to provide water services at an adequate price, observing the following parameters: quantity, quality and sufficiency. Our research found that with this legislation in three Ecuadorian local governments (Cuenca, Gualaceo and Suscal), the most vulnerable households (i.e., low-income and/or indigenous households) will be affected the most. This means that and those families will spend the most part of their income on water services otherwise they would have to reduce their water consumption. Full article

Water laws and drought plans are used to prioritize and allocate scarce water resources. Both have historically been human-centric, failing to account for non-human water needs. In this paper, we examine the development of instream flow legislation and the evolution of drought planning to highlight the growing concern for the non-human impacts of water scarcity. Utilizing a new framework for ecological drought, we analyzed five watershed-scale drought plans in southwestern Montana, USA to understand if, and how, the ecological impacts of drought are currently being assessed. We found that while these plans do account for some ecological impacts, it is primarily through the narrow lens of impacts to fish as measured by water temperature and streamflow. The latter is typically based on the same ecological principles used to determine instream flow requirements. We also found that other resource plans in the same watersheds (e.g., Watershed Restoration Plans, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Watershed Assessments or United States Forest Service (USFS) Forest Plans) identify a broader range of ecological drought risks. Given limited resources and the potential for mutual benefits and synergies, we suggest greater integration between various planning processes could result in a more holistic consideration of water needs and uses across the landscape. Full article

An increasing number of court rulings and legislation worldwide are recognizing rights of nature to be protected and preserved. Recognizing these rights also entails the recognition that nature has the right to stand in court and to be represented for its defense. This is still an incipient field and every step taken in this direction constitutes a precedent from which to learn and on which to base new rulings and legislation initiatives. Within this doctrine, rivers seem to be on the spotlight and court rulings on the rights of rivers are the ones setting precedent. These cases have taken place in New Zealand, Ecuador, India, and Colombia. This review looks into what all these rulings and legislation worldwide say about the rights of nature and what legal and systemic considerations should be taken into account as the recognition of the rights of nature moves forward. Full article

Entrenched Western water rights regimes may appear to function relatively well in wet years, but extreme drought events can expose the kinds of harsh ecological and socio-economic outcomes that the hard edges of prior appropriation inherently generate. During the 2012–2016 California drought some irrigators received little or no water at all in consecutive years while others received comparatively large allocations. This paper focuses on the role that California’s water rights priority system and its administration via Central Valley Project contracts have played in generating disproportionate water allocations and impacts during the drought. The analysis is structured around two key questions: (a) in what ways does strict adherence to a priority system of water allocations produce inequitable socio-ecological outcomes during severe drought? (b) how might the system be changed to foster outcomes that are more equitable and fair, and with less costly and less serious conflicts in a non-stationary climate future marked by extreme events? Using an equity perspective, I draw from the doctrine of equitable apportionment to imagine a water rights regime that is better able to create a fairer distribution of drought impacts while meaningfully elevating the importance of future generations and increasing adaptive capacity. Full article

In sub-Saharan Africa, the high demand for wood-based cooking fuels calls for urgent policy action to steer the cooking energy sector towards more sustainability. While the subnational scale is growing in importance for policy planning, current energy assessments still only consider individual entities without taking into account resource flows. Ignoring flows of biomass cooking fuels in supply–demand assessments is a system boundary problem that can lead to misleading policy recommendations. In this paper, we tackle the boundary problem in subnational supply–demand assessments and provide a tool to support knowledge-based decision-making on the management of biomass cooking fuels in sub-Saharan Africa. Using Kitui County as a case study, we developed and tested an approach consisting of a supply model, local demand model, balance model, availability model, and adjusted balance model. The balance model only considers local fuel supplies and demand, whereas the adjusted balance model also considers external demand, which reduces the locally available supply of fuel. The results show that fuel demand and supply are spatially heterogeneous and vary between wood-based and non-woody fuels, and that the transport distance of fuels strongly affects local fuel availability and determines whether the supply–demand balance is positive or negative. We conclude that subnational energy policies should consider geographical distribution of supply and demand, aim to increase the fuel mix, consider external demand in supply–demand assessments, and differentiate between fuels for self-consumption and the market. Full article

Renewable energy sources (RESs) are able to reduce the European Union (EU)’s dependence on foreign energy imports, also meeting sustainable objectives to tackle climate change and to enhance economic opportunities. Energy management requires a quantitative analysis and the European Commission follows the performance of each Member State (MS) in order to define the corrective measures towards 2020 targets. Starting from historical data reported in the Eurostat database and through a mathematical model, this work proposes future trajectories towards 2020 of the share of energy from renewables (REs) in terms of gross final energy consumption (GFEC). Furthermore, a quantitative analysis based on two indices—(i) the share of REs in GFEC, and (ii) gross final renewable energy consumption (GFREC) per capita—permits a comparison among 28 MSs. The share of REs in GFEC in EU 28 varies from 19.4% to 21.8% in future trajectories towards 2020. Sweden and Finland occupy the top part of the ranking, while six MSs (Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom) are not able to reach the 2020 targets. Full article

We explore the long-term demand and supply potentials of rare earth elements in alternative energy vehicles (AEVs) in the United States until 2050. Using a stock-flow model, we compare a baseline scenario with scenarios that incorporate an exemplary technological innovation: a novel aluminum–cerium–magnesium alloy. We find that the introduction of the novel alloy demonstrates that even low penetration rates can exceed domestic cerium production capacity, illustrating possible consequences of technological innovations to material supply and demand. End-of-life vehicles can, however, overtake domestic mining as a source of materials, calling for proper technologies and policies to utilize this emerging source. The long-term importing of critical materials in manufactured and semi-manufactured products shifts the location of material stocks and hence future secondary supply of high-value materials, culminating in a double benefit to the importing country. This modeling approach is adaptable to the study of varied scenarios and materials, linking technologies with supply and demand dynamics in order to understand their potential economic and environmental consequences. Full article

W.G. Lindgren in 1933 first noted that a belt of alkaline-igneous rocks extends along the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains and Basin and Range provinces from Alaska and British Columbia southward into New Mexico, Trans-Pecos Texas, and eastern Mexico and that these rocks contain relatively large quantities of important commodities such as, gold, fluorine, zirconium, rare earth elements (REE), tellurium, gallium, and other critical elements. In New Mexico, these deposits were called Great Plain Margin (GPM) deposits, because this north-south belt of alkaline-igneous rocks roughly coincides with crustal thickening along the margin between the Great Plains physiographic province with the Basin and Range (including the Rio Grande rift) and Rocky Mountains physiographic provinces, which extends into Trans-Pecos Texas and eastern Mexico. Since 1996, only minor exploration and development of these deposits in New Mexico, Texas, and eastern Mexico has occurred because of low commodity prices, permitting issues, and environmental concerns. However, as the current demand for gold and critical elements, such as REE and tellurium has increased, new exploration programs have encouraged additional research on the geology of these deposits. The lack of abundant quartz in these systems results in these deposits being less resistant to erosion, being covered, and not as well exposed as other types of quartz-rich deposits, therefore additional undiscovered alkaline-related gold and REE deposits are likely in these areas. Deposits of Th-REE-fluorite (±U, Nb) epithermal veins and breccias are found in the several GPM districts, but typically do not contain significant gold, although trace amounts of gold are found in most GPM districts. Gold-rich deposits in these districts tend to have moderate to low REE and anomalously high tungsten and sporadic amounts of tellurium. Carbonatites are only found in New Mexico and Mexico. The diversity of igneous rocks, including alkaline-igneous rocks, and associated mineral deposits along this boundary suggests that this region is characterized by highly fractionated and differentiated, multiple pulses of mantle-derived magmas evolving to lower crustal magmas related to the subduction of the Farallon plate. The differences in incompatible trace elements, including REE and beryllium, between the different granitic to rhyolite rocks are likely related to either differences in the crustal rocks that were assimilated during magmatic differentiation or by potential minor contamination from crustal sources and/or magma mixing. Deep-seated fracture systems or crustal lineaments apparently channeled the magmas and hydrothermal fluids. Once magmas and metal-rich fluids reached shallow levels, the distribution and style of these intrusions, as well as the resulting associated mineral deposits were controlled by local structures and associated igneous rock compositions. Full article

Recent California legislation has promised solutions to longstanding problems in groundwater management through an emphasis on management of groundwater itself, rather than on the rights of overlying property owners. In this short communication, I argue that the promises of scientific management relies on property law and jurisdiction and therefore that scientific claims about the water itself are less important than private property claims in the case of a Cadiz Inc.’s proposed groundwater extraction project in Southeastern California. While private property in land insulates Cadiz Inc. (Los Angeles, CA, USA) from political contestation, opposition to the project has increasingly focused on the right to transport and transfer water through lands not held by Cadiz Inc. This legal strategy points to how California groundwater law is still fundamentally ruled by private property in land, which shifts the grounds of environmental politics from extraction itself to the transport of extracted materials. This case serves as a good example of the intersection of political ecology and legal geography. Full article

Costa Rica followed different steps in order to organise and implement a waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) management system. This paper summarises the challenges, successes, and limitations of its implementation. Two phases were needed to set up the system. The first phase created a baseline followed by the designing of a strategy. The second phase promoted a Decree for WEEE management that prohibits discarding WEEE together with household waste, as well as the creation of a National Executive Committee with representatives of importers, consumers, and government, which will establish the quotes and treatment fees, and so on. Another outcome was the development of a strategy for the implementation of WEEE management for the country, the promotion of population awareness about their responsibility for WEEE management, and an example set up for other Latin American countries. This paper draws conclusions from the regulation and notes the required consistency with the existing national waste legislation in order to reduce approval times. Additionally, the importance of the participation of stakeholders representing different electric and electronic equipment (EEE) sectors with the purpose of obtaining consensus on agreements is highlighted. Full article

This study aims to estimate the groundwater storage change of hard rock aquifers in the face of change. For this, the approach developed consisted initially in the implementation of 5 Magnetic Resonance Soundings (MRS) around the observation wells realized and monitored from 2014 to 2015 in the Sanon experimental site. In a second step, we determined the storage change using the MRS data and the water table fluctuation method. The MRS data show that the water content varies spatially from 4.5 to 1.3%. The maximum value is recorded at the central valley where a piezometric dome is observed. The specific yield varies from 2.4% in the central valley to 1.3% at the outlet. The renewed water resource is estimated at 116 mm in the central valley and 32 mm at the outlet, which corresponds respectively to 13 and 3% of the annual rainfall. The renewed water resource is consistent with the annual recharge. Thus, the combination of the MRS geophysical approach and water table fluctuation method is an efficient, fast and cheaper (compared with long-term pumping test) tool for the estimation of groundwater storage changes. Full article

The complexity and demands of wildland firefighting in the western U.S. have increased over recent decades due to factors including the expansion of the wildland-urban interface, lengthening fire seasons associated with climate change, and changes in vegetation due to past fire suppression and timber harvest. In light of these changes, the use of more wildland fire on the landscape could reduce fuels and form barriers to the spread of future fires while performing forest restoration in some areas. However, the risks, costs and benefits of changing fire response strategy have not been quantified. Here, we identify gaps regarding the ability to simulate alternative wildfire suppression strategies, due to a number of factors including limited data collected on fireline construction, as well as synergies between firefighting resources and resource effectiveness. We present a fire management continuum: at one end lies full suppression of all fires under all circumstances, and at the opposite end lies no suppression of any fires regardless of location or time in season, with a wide array of managed fire options falling in between. Next, we demonstrate the proof-of-concept using a stochastic fire simulation model, FSim, to simulate two alternative fire suppression strategies close to opposite ends of this continuum for the Sierra National Forest of California: (1) business-as-usual, which equates to nearly full fire suppression; and (2) full suppression of human-caused fires and no suppression actions on lightning-caused fires. Results indicate that fire management strategy can substantially affect the number of large fires and landscape burn probabilities, both of which were shown to increase under the second scenario. However, temporal feedbacks are expected to play an important role: we show that increases in burned area substantially limit ignition potential and the extent of subsequent fires within the first five to ten years, especially under the second scenario. While subject to current data gaps and limitations in fire modeling, the methodology presented here can be used to simulate a number of alternative fire suppression strategies, including decisions to suppress or not suppress fires based on location, time of season or other factors. This method also provides basic inputs needed to estimate risks, costs and benefits of various alternative suppression strategies in future work. In future work, uncertainties resulting from current limitations in knowledge can be addressed using techniques such as scenario planning in order to provide land managers with a set of possible fire outcomes. Full article

Chemical and biological leaching is practiced on a commercial scale for the mining of metals from ores. Although bioleaching is an environmentally-friendly alternative to chemical leaching, one of the principal shortcomings is the slow rate of leaching which needs to be addressed. The application of ultrasound in bioleaching, termed sonobioleaching, is a technique which has been reported to increase the rate and extent of metal extraction. This article reviews efforts made in the field of sonobioleaching. Since bioleaching is effectively a biological and chemical process, the effects of sonication on chemical leaching/reactions and biological processes are also reviewed. Although sonication increases metal extraction by increasing the metabolite production and enhanced mixing at a micro scale, research is limited in terms of the microorganisms explored. This paper highlights some shortcomings and limitations of existing techniques, and proposes directions for future research. Full article

While having many positive impacts, a tremendous economic performance and rapid industrial expansion over the last decades in the Philippines has had negative effects that have resulted in unfavorable hydrological and ecological changes in most urban river systems and has created environmental problems. Usually, these effects would not be part of a systematic assessment of urban water benefits. To address the issue, this study investigates the relationship between poor water quality and resident’s willingness to pay (WTP) for improved water quality in Metro Manila. By employing a contingent valuation method (CVM), this paper estimates the benefits of the provision of clean water quality (swimmable and fishable) in waterbodies of Metro Manila for its residents. Face-to-face interviews were completed with 240 randomly selected residents. Residents expressed a mean WTP of PHP102.44 (USD2.03) for a swimmable water quality (good quality) and a mean WTP of PHP102.39 (USD2.03) for fishable water quality (moderate quality). The aggregation of this mean willingness-to-pay value amounted to annual economic benefits from PHP9443 billion to PHP9447 billion (approx. USD190 million) per year for all taxpayers in Metro Manila. As expected, these estimates could inform local decision-makers about the benefits of future policy interventions aimed at improving the quality of waterbodies in Metro Manila. Full article