Description:    Pesticides are widely used in modern agriculture to minimize financial losses and maintain food supplies. In southeast Asia, where agriculture is the principal economic activity, pesticides are considered essential, particularly in tropical regions seeking to enter the global economy by providing off-season fresh fruits and vegetables. The absence of a strong legal framework for pesticides facilitated a significant increase in the use of low-quality pesticides. Farmers ignore the risks, safety instructions, and protective directives when using pesticides. They are only concerned about the effectiveness of the pesticides for killing pests, without paying attention to the effects on their health and the environment. The improper usage of pesticides and the incorrect disposal of pesticide wastes contributed to the pollution of groundwater, surface water, and soil, and induced health problems in local communities. This paper describes the impact of the exposure of pesticides on human health and water resources in connection with the usage of pesticides and their management. Because of availability, the data are mainly taken for Northern Vietnam, and applied to the water quality in the delta; nevertheless, the problem relates to all countries in the delta, and similar situations may be found in other regions, particularly in Asia. Content Type Journal Article Category ORIGINAL ARTICLE Pages 1-9 DOI 10.1007/s10163-012-0081-x Authors Pham Thi Thuy, Laboratory of Applied Physical Chemistry and Environmental Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, K.U. Leuven, W. de Croylaan 46, 3001 Leuven, Belgium Steven Van Geluwe, Laboratory of Applied Physical Chemistry and Environmental Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, K.U. Leuven, W. de Croylaan 46, 3001 Leuven, Belgium Viet-Anh Nguyen, Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hanoi University of Civil Engineering, 55 Giai Phong Road, Hanoi, Vietnam Bart Van der Bruggen, Laboratory of Applied Physical Chemistry and Environmental Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, K.U. Leuven, W. de Croylaan 46, 3001 Leuven, Belgium Journal Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management Online ISSN 1611-8227 Print ISSN 1438-4957

Description: The ability of management strategies to achieve the fishery management goals are impacted by environmental variation and, therefore, also by global climate change. Management strategies can be modified to use environmental data using the "dynamic B 0 " concept, and changing the set of years used to define biomass reference points. Two approaches have been developed to apply management strategy evaluation to evaluate the impact of environmental variation on the performance of management strategies. The "mechanistic approach" estimates the relationship between the environment and elements of the population dynamics of the fished species and makes predictions for population trends using the outputs from global climate models. In contrast, the "empirical approach" examines possible broad scenarios without explicitly identifying mechanisms. Many reviewed studies have found that modifying management strategies to include environmental factors does not improve the ability to achieve management goals much, if at all, and only if the manner in which these factors drive the system is well known. As such, until the skill of stock projection models improves, it seems more appropriate to consider the implications of plausible broad forecasts related to how biological parameters may change in the future as a way to assess the robustness of management strategies, rather than attempting specific predictions per se .

Description: The fisheries sector is crucial to the Bangladeshi economy and wellbeing, accounting for 4.4% of national gross domestic product and 22.8% of agriculture sector production, and supplying ca. 60% of the national animal protein intake. Fish is vital to the 16 million Bangladeshis living near the coast, a number that has doubled since the 1980s. Here, we develop and apply tools to project the long-term productive capacity of Bangladesh marine fisheries under climate and fisheries management scenarios, based on downscaling a global climate model, using associated river flow and nutrient loading estimates, projecting high-resolution changes in physical and biochemical ocean properties, and eventually projecting fish production and catch potential under different fishing mortality targets. We place particular interest on Hilsa shad ( Tenualosa ilisha ), which accounts for ca. 11% of total catches, and Bombay duck ( Harpadon nehereus ), a low price fish that is the second highest catch in Bangladesh and is highly consumed by low-income communities. It is concluded that the impacts of climate change, under greenhouse emissions scenario A1B, are likely to reduce the potential fish production in the Bangladesh exclusive economic zone by 〈10%. However, these impacts are larger for the two target species. Under sustainable management practices, we expect Hilsa shad catches to show a minor decline in potential catch by 2030 but a significant (25%) decline by 2060. However, if overexploitation is allowed, catches are projected to fall much further, by almost 95% by 2060, compared with the Business as Usual scenario for the start of the 21st century. For Bombay duck, potential catches by 2060 under sustainable scenarios will produce a decline of 〈20% compared with current catches. The results demonstrate that management can mitigate or exacerbate the effects of climate change on ecosystem productivity.

Description:    Reduce, reuse, and recycle (3R) policies form the basis of waste management and global warming countermeasures globally, so we conducted a comparative study of 3R and waste management policies in the European Union (EU), USA, Korea, Japan, China, and Vietnam. An international workshop for 3R and waste management policymakers was held in Kyoto, Japan, and a bibliographic survey was also conducted to collect data. 3R policies are clearly given priority in the hierarchy of waste management in every country studied. Thermal recovery, which includes power generation from waste heat and methane gas collected from organic waste, is also a priority; this is consistent with the increased use of countermeasures to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In the EU, waste management is characterized by practical and effective 3R policies through the development of realistic regulations and by the policymakers’ desire to simplify management systems. The policy ideal in China, however, is the development of a circular economy that targets reductions in the amount and hazardousness of waste. Limits on the number of final disposal sites, strategies for procuring resources, and GHG emission countermeasures are closely linked with 3R policies, and further development of 3R policies in parallel with such issues is expected. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-17 DOI 10.1007/s10163-011-0009-x Authors Shin-ichi Sakai, Environment Preservation Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8501 Japan Hideto Yoshida, Japan Environmental Safety Corporation, Tokyo, Japan Yasuhiro Hirai, Environment Preservation Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8501 Japan Misuzu Asari, Environment Preservation Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8501 Japan Hidetaka Takigami, Research Center for Material Cycles and Waste Management, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan Shin Takahashi, Center for Marine Environmental Studies, Ehime University, Matsuyama, Japan Keijirou Tomoda, Towa Technology, Hiroshima, Japan Maria Victoria Peeler, Hazardous Waste and Toxics Reduction, Washington State Department of Ecology, Olympia, WA, USA Jakub Wejchert, Sector in Unit G.4, Sustainable Production and Consumption, DG Environment, European Commission, Brussels, Belgium Thomas Schmid-Unterseh, Division of Product Responsibility, Avoidance, Recovery and Utilization of Product Waste, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Berlin, Germany Aldo Ravazzi Douvan, Italian Environmental Authority for EU Structural Funds, Ministry for the Environment Land and Sea, Rome, Italy Roy Hathaway, Waste Management Division, Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, London, UK Lars D. Hylander, Department of Earth Sciences, Air and Water Science, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden Christian Fischer, European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production, Copenhagen, Denmark Gil Jong Oh, Resource Recirculation Center, National Institute of Environmental Research, Incheon, Korea Li Jinhui, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China Ngo Kim Chi, Union for Scientific Research and Production on Chemical Engineering, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST), Hanoi, Vietnam Journal Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management Online ISSN 1611-8227 Print ISSN 1438-4957

Description:    Within climate change impact research, the consideration of socioeconomic processes remains a challenge. Socioeconomic systems must be equipped to react and adapt to global change. However, any reasonable development or assessment of sustainable adaptation strategies requires a comprehensive consideration of human-environment interactions. This requirement can be met through multi-agent simulation, as demonstrated in the interdisciplinary project GLOWA-Danube (GLObal change of the WAter Cycle; www.glowa-danube.de ). GLOWA-Danube has developed an integrated decision support tool for water and land use management in the Upper Danube catchment (parts of Germany and Austria, 77,000 km 2 ). The scientific disciplines invoked in the project have implemented sixteen natural and social science models, which are embedded in the simulation framework DANUBIA. Within DANUBIA, a multi-agent simulation approach is used to represent relevant socioeconomic processes. The structure and results of three of these multi-agent models, WaterSupply, Household and Tourism, are presented in this paper. A main focus of the paper is on the development of global change scenarios (climate and society) and their application to the presented models. The results of different simulation runs demonstrate the potential of multi-agent models to represent feedbacks between different water users and the environment. Moreover, the interactive usage of the framework allows to define and vary scenario assumptions so as to assess the impact of potential interventions. It is shown that integrated modelling and scenario design not only provide valuable information, but also offer a platform for discussing complex human-environment-interactions with stakeholders. Content Type Journal Article DOI 10.1007/s11027-010-9274-6 Authors Anja Soboll, Department of Geography, University of Munich, Luisenstrasse 37, 80333 Munich, Germany Michael Elbers, Center for Environmental Systems Research, University of Kassel, Kurt-Wolters-Strasse 3, 34109 Kassel, Germany Roland Barthel, Institute of Hydraulic Engineering, University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 7a, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany Juergen Schmude, Department of Geography, University of Munich, Luisenstrasse 37, 80333 Munich, Germany Andreas Ernst, Center for Environmental Systems Research, University of Kassel, Kurt-Wolters-Strasse 3, 34109 Kassel, Germany Ralf Ziller, Institute of Hydraulic Engineering, University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 7a, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany Journal Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change Online ISSN 1573-1596 Print ISSN 1381-2386

Description: Welcomme, R. L. 2011. An overview of global catch statistics for inland fish. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 68: 1751–1756. The reported global inland fish catch passed 10 million tonnes in 2008, after almost linear growth from the early 1950s. The rise coincides with an increasing number of reports of falling catches resulting from environmental degradation. It is thought that catches from inland waters were underreported in the past because of constraints on collecting the relevant data. National approaches to data collection are not generally comparable and their accuracy not usually assessed. National data processing and reporting should be audited, and training undertaken to harmonize these activities. The apparently bigger catches probably result from better reporting of actual catches rather than any increase in the amount of fish landed. Current data are sufficient only for a general overview of global inland catches of fish, rather than for the detailed analysis needed for management, policy formulation, and the valuation of inland fisheries. There is a need for improved approaches to data collection and for historical catches to be corrected to account for changes in methodologies and reporting procedures.

Description: United Nations General Assembly resolution 69/292 provides that in developing an internationally legally binding instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, the process should “not undermine” relevant existing legal instruments and frameworks and relevant global, regional, and sectoral bodies. An analysis of the varied interpretations of this ambiguous expression and its surrounding language raises questions about the role envisaged for such existing architecture. This article considers the practice of regional fisheries management organizations as an illustration of the possibilities and potential for improved practices generated from within existing architecture. It reviews measures taken to protect biodiversity and innovative applications of international law that have improved the ability of RFMOs to take such environmental measures. It seeks to highlight the importance of avoiding too narrow an interpretation of the notion of “not undermining”, and of recognizing the potential in existing architecture when designing an improved regime for the protection of biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction.

Description: On 24 February 2017, a workshop entitled “Law Beyond Boundaries: innovative mechanisms for the integrated management of biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction” was held in Wollongong, Australia hosted by the Oceans and International Environmental Law Interest Group of the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law, in association with the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security at the University of Wollongong. The aim of the workshop was to address the question, how can international law be used in innovative ways to effectively conserve and sustainably manage marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ)? In this introduction, we briefly summarize five of the papers developed for the workshop, highlighting the way in which they address three important themes: the promise and limits of existing institutional mechanisms governing activities in ABNJ; interactions between established principles and regimes for ABNJ; and the lessons that can be drawn from existing global and regional approaches to ABNJ. We hope that the ideas developed in this article theme set will contribute to the ongoing discussions at the United Nations General Assembly, as the international community works toward the development of an international legally binding instrument to govern activities in ABNJ.

Description:    To avoid dangerous changes to the climate system, the global mean temperature must not rise more than 2 °C from the 19th century level. The German Advisory Council on Global Change recommends maintaining the rate of change in temperature to within 0.2 °C per decade. This paper supposes that a geoengineering option of solar radiation management (SRM) by injecting aerosol into the Earth’s stratosphere becomes applicable in the future to meet those temperature conditions. However, a failure to continue the use of this option could cause a rapid temperature rebound, and thus we propose a principle of SRM use that the temperature conditions must be satisfied even after SRM termination at any time. We present economically optimal trajectories of the amounts of SRM use and the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions under our principle by using an economic model of climate change. To meet the temperature conditions described above, the SRM must reduce radiative forcing by slightly more than 1 W/m 2 at most, and industrial CO 2 emissions must be cut by 80 % by the end of the 21st century relative to 2005, assuming a climate sensitivity of 3 °C. Lower-level use of SRM is required for a higher climate sensitivity; otherwise, the temperature will rise faster in the case of SRM termination. Considering potential economic damages of environmental side effects due to the use of SRM, the contribution of SRM would have to be much smaller. Content Type Journal Article Category Original Article Pages 1-26 DOI 10.1007/s11027-012-9414-2 Authors Takanobu Kosugi, College of Policy Science, Ritsumeikan University, 56-1 Toji-in Kitamachi, Kita-ku, Kyoto, 603-8577 Japan Journal Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change Online ISSN 1573-1596 Print ISSN 1381-2386

Description:    The conversion of biomass waste into resources as a recycling process is receiving increased interest due to the perceived need for a sustainable global carbon cycle and environmental considerations. Several treatment processes are being developed. Hydrothermal treatment is one of the most effective approaches, because water at high temperatures and high pressures behaves as a reaction medium with remarkable properties. In this work, the reaction behavior of guaiacol as a biomass model compound was studied in subcritical water at 483–563 K and in supercritical water at 653–673 K using a batch reactor. Guaiacol can be considered representative of the aromatic ring structures present in lignin, a major component of woody biomass. The chemical species formed in aqueous products were identified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and quantified using high-performance liquid chromatography. The effect of pressure and reaction time on the conversion process of guaiacol is discussed. The results obtained indicate that this method has potential for efficient organic waste conversion. Content Type Journal Article Pages 68-79 DOI 10.1007/s10163-010-0309-6 Authors Wahyudiono, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kumamoto University, 2-39-1 Kurokami, Kumamoto, 860-8555 Japan Mitsuru Sasaki, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kumamoto University, 2-39-1 Kurokami, Kumamoto, 860-8555 Japan Motonobu Goto, Bioelectrics Research Center, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan Journal Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management Online ISSN 1611-8227 Print ISSN 1438-4957 Journal Volume Volume 13 Journal Issue Volume 13, Number 1