Biogenic volatile organic compounds play a key role in governing the rate of chemical production and loss of tropospheric ozone and formation of secondary organic aerosol, important atmospheric constituents which affect both climate and air quality. Isoprene is the most important of these compounds, both in terms of quantity emitted and subsequent reactions. The effects of changes in isoprene emissions due to land use change driven by the cultivation of biofuel feedstock crops in the near-future (2020s) have been evaluated. Two realistic biofuel cultivation scenarios were developed, based on current government targets for the replacement of transportation fuel with bio-ethanol and biodiesel. A series of simulations, using isoprene emissions, atmospheric chemistry and climate models, were performed to quantify the impacts. The two biofuel cultivation scenarios yield roughly the same quantity of fuel (180 Mt of oil equivalent per year), in line with projected global demands for biofuel in the 2020s. In each case, global annual isoprene emissions rose by around 1 %. The resulting changes in ground-level ozone concentrations were markedly different, with increases of as much as 10 ppbv over parts of Europe as a result of cultivation in the mid-latitudes, but decreases across much of the tropics due to oil palm cultivation. If co-located emissions of NOx from oil palm processing were included, ozone levels rose by up to 5 ppbv over SE Asia, highlighting the importance of controlling NOx emissions. The increases in ozone over Europe are projected to result in 1300 premature deaths and a 4% reduction r III in the wheat harvest. This is the first time that changes in biogenic emissions resulting from realistic land use changes driven by biofuel cultivation have been considered. The projected impacts on air quality and health indicate that such emissions are important in assessing the overall environmental effect of biofuels.

This thesis critically analyses the problematization of adaptation to climate change that has emerged at the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP). It finds that its problematization is based on a techno-scientific ontology and epistemology that occludes social forms of knowledge and social contingency. Its political rationale accounts for adaptation as a planned, pre-emptive decision based on existing objectives. This problematization is supplemented by conceptual elements that recognize irreducible uncertainty and social capacity to change which are related to socio-contextual and socio-emergent accounts of adaptation. In articulating these supplementary elements as moments, UKCIP's problematization appears to have broadened, but the nature of this articulation also functions as a 'limit point' (Derrida 1976). Through rendering the contingency and constitution of UKCIP's problematization of adaptation visible, this research enables critical engagement with UKCIP's current discourse and practices.

There is growing awareness of the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the UK and the Government has endorsed a reduction in CO2 emissions of 60% by 2050. It is evident that the Government intends to pursue these reductions, at least in part, through the regions. This thesis is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on the development and application of a new methodology for estimating greenhouse gas emissions on the Government Office regional scale. The second part of the thesis examines the stakeholder use of a method to mitigate emissions from the energy component of the inventory. This new methodological and software based approach is presented and used to explore energy futures. Part 1: The current national emissions inventory is not disaggregated at a regional or local level. There is also no widely agreed methodology for estimating greenhouse gas emissions on a regional scale. The first part of the thesis sets out why there is a need to estimate greenhouse gas emissions on a regional scale. In addition, it discusses what mechanisms and approaches can be used to estimate emissions on this basis, as well as how these emissions can be represented in an emissions inventory. This review, together with an understanding of the methods used in the national inventory, presented in an accompanying appendix, culminates in a proposed new methodology for estimating emissions on a regional scale. This part concludes by applying this methodology to the North West region to form the most detailed inventory of greenhouse gas emissions currently available on this scale. This shows that the region emitted 72MtC02 Eqv in 2000. . Part 2: Part 2 of the thesis begins by providing a review of scenarios with an energy focus and discusses the need for a new approach to exploring energy futures on a regional level. It presents a new mechanism, "a scenario tool", via which these energy futures can be explored. Finally, the thesis documents and discusses the application of this mechanism with 36 North West stakeholders to form a large set of separate energy futures. These energy futures equated to reductions in emissions of between 37% & 87%. The results of which were used, together with a "backcasting" workshop, to form four energy-orientated emissions scenarios for the North West region. This part of the thesis concludes by providing a review of the scenario process and the scenario tool, based on stakeholder feedback. Finally, the thesis concludes by reviewing the research process, its outputs and how the work may be taken forward.

Ozone (03) and nitrogen dioxide (N02) are two of a series of air pollutants targeted in the UK Air Quality Strategy, by virtue of their adverse effects on human health and the natural environment. Because 03 and N02 are rapidly chemically inter-converted in the atmosphere, their behaviour is coupled and they can be collectively referred to as 'oxidant' (OX). Sources and trends of OX in the UK have been examined through a combination of dedicated field measurements of 03, N02 and nitric oxide (NO), over three years (January 2005 - December 2007) at the Silwood Park Atmospheric Research Station (SPARS) near Ascot; and through analysis of data for the same species at 31 sites across the UK, which are part of the UK Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN). SPARS measurements have contributed to data available from the London Air Quality Network (LAQN), the site being referred to as "Windsor and Maidenhead - Ascot" (MW3). Total Oxidant [OXh can be interpreted in terms of: (i) a Global hemispheric baseline, [OX]H, representing the baseline air transported into the UK; (ii) a Regional modification, [OX]R, which has contributions from production via regional-scale photochemical processing of emitted volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) , and loss via deposition; and (iii) a Local enhancement, [OX]L, from direct emissions of N02 (e.g., road vehicle exhaust). Separation of these components involved an air mass screening methodology, using back-trajectories calculated with meteorological models. [OX]H makes the major contribution to [OXh at rural and polluted urban centre sites, although either of the other components can dominate during episodes. [OX]R is typically enhanced during the period from April to September when meteorological conditions are favourable and photochemical processes operate efficiently. [OX]L is largest at polluted urban sites close to emission sources, and maximises in the winter months when dispersion is least efficient. Abstract Annual mean data since the 1990s show an increasing trend for [OX]H (a consequence of increasing emissions of methane and NOx), while [OX]R and [OX]L show decreasing trends because of emissions control strategies within the EU and UK. Seasonal and spatial variations in [OX]H and [OX]R are valuable for forecasting and modelling 03. [OX]H is important for policy when baseline 03 concentrations exceed international air quality standards.

Metals, such as copper, zinc, cadmium, nickel and lead, can vary significantly in concentration over time and across small specified areas at the micro scale (geographic regions), either naturally or also due to human activities, such as urbanization, industrial and agricultural activities. Their chemical forms and distribution control their mobility, bioavailability and subsequent potential for toxicity which, in turn, dictates surface water quality. The physicochemical forms in which a metal ion is present (i.e. its speciation) determine the behaviour of the metal and therefore its bioavailability and toxicity due to biological accessibility in the environment. Bioavailability of a metal is expressed as the fraction of the metal that the organism is proximately exposed to during a given time and under defined conditions. It is generally accepted that the total metal concentrations in surface water are not considered to be very representative of the metal fraction that is taken up by the aquatic organisms, while the free metal ion [M"+] is considered to be the most toxic metal species. The complexation of metals by ligands has an important influence on the speciation of metals in natural waters, reducing the free metal aqueous activity and affecting the metal bioavailability and toxicity. Like all substances, metals can behave as contaminants, when present in excess, posing risks to the environment. As part of water quality management regimes, these risks are managed through the establishment of Environmental Quality Standards (EQS). EQS define concentrations of the metals in the surface water environment that are protective of the aquatic life. Current EQS values are based either on total or dissolved metal concentrations; however, they do not consider whether metals are in potentially bioavailable forms, or seasonal variability that would affect their bioavailability and potential for toxicity over time. Considering these limitations the objectives of the presented research were: to identify the temporal variability of chemical and physical determinands in a variety of aquatic environments and identify any changes that may significantly affect the quality of the aquatic system, to assess the temporal variability of metal speciation and bioavailability/toxicity through the use of chemical equilibrium and toxicity models, to assess the temporal variability in water quality using the present EQS for metals (Cu, Zn, Cd, Ni and Pb), based on total and dissolved concentrations, as well as the chemical equilibrium and toxicity modelling results, to evaluate the performance of the standard and bioavailability/toxicity based EQS setting methods in a variety ofUK surface water systems. The geochemical modelling studies have been carried out using two chemical equilibrium models: the Windermere Humic Ion Binding Model (WHAM) and the PHREEQC model. The Biotic Ligand Model (BLM) was utilised to assess the acute and chronic toxicity and to estimate the effects of Cu, Zn and Cd concentrations for acute; as well of Cu concentration for chronic toxicity for the aquatic organism Daphnia magna.

Genotoxic chemicals in the aquatic environment induce DNA damage and mutations causing emergent effects on populations and ecosystem. The vulnerability of organisms to these chemicals also depends on life histories and reproductive mode. This thesis explored the population consequences of exposure to a reference genotoxicant/mutagen, ethyl methane sulfonate in sexual and asexual species of Artemia. A holistic approach was adopted by studying molecular markers (comet assay and ISSR), whole organism (changes in demographic parameters) and population level consequences (prospective and retrospective analysis of effects on population growth rate ft.) in laboratory conditions. EMS elicited predictable genotoxic responses in both the species of Artemia in comet assay and ISSR profiling. The genotoxic responses were associated with reductions in whole organism performance and population growth in the parental generation of both the species and Fl and F2 generations of asexual species showing the predictability of biomarkers about population level effects, more efficiently in asexuals. Population growth rate was proportionally more sensitive to juvenile survival whereas the effect of EMS on juvenile fertility contributed more to the variations in population growth rate in both the species in perturbation analysis and this effect was due to the high growth rate of Artemia. Simulations of lower population growth rate in the model showed that, adult fertility and survival are also of importance. Asexual species showed substantial reductions in whole organism performance and population growth rate in all the three generations whereas in sexual species substantial effects occurred only in parental generation. Thus the inability of asexual species to purge deleterious mutations by a genotoxicant/mutagen was demonstrated conclusively. These findings provided strong empirical evidence of the evolutionary hypotheses about the advantages and disadvantages of asexual and sexual reproduction. Thus asexual species may be vulnerable to extinction in environmentally challenging conditions affecting community structure and ecosystem dynamics.

Article 17 of the Kyoto Protocol embodies the ground-breaking international emissions trading mechanism. The United Kingdom's greenhouse gas emission trading system is the world's first national scheme. Yet few studies of UK climate policy literature by examining the transfer of emissions trading from the Kyoto Protocol in the development of UK emissions trading during the period 1997-1999.The thesis enhances the significance of policy transfer by highlighting a relationship between transfer and regime implementation~ 1he former can aid the latter, for a regime's norms can be implemented at the. national level via transfer and in this way they become effective. The thesis challenges the traditional view that an international regime must be coercive, ratified ~nd endowed with a compliance mechanism in order for states to implement its provisions. The Kyoto Protocol does not oblige states to implement emissions trading schemes and, during the period 1997-1999, it had not entered into force and the details of its compliance mechanism were unknown, but yet the treaty's trading instrument was having an impact on UK climqte policy. The thesis examines the agenda-setting, formulation and decision stages of UK climate policy-making in order to illustrate how and why emissions trading was transferred from the Kyoto Protocol. The thesis argues that ArtiCle 17 generated international pressures (in the form of 'consensus' and 'image') for states to gain experience of trading, which created a perception in the UK that it was necessary to have a domestic scheme and led to the transfer of the trading instrument.

The research described in this thesis further develops Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to include radiological releases to air, water and as waste. A new methodology has been developed to characterise radioactive aspects based on known effects to man and behaviour in the environment. Equivalency factors have been developed for nine radioisotopes (24'Am, 137Cs56 0Co, 239Pu52 41Pu53 HI 234U, 235U and 238U). A new LCA valuation method is developed for weighting environmental impacts in an Environmental Management System (EMS). A detailed LCA inventory of environmental burdens has been compiled from data from AWE Aldermaston and used as a case study to develop and demonstrate the methodologies developed in this work. As part of the research, the links between environmental aspects and impacts has been investigated using LCA, based on the high hazard facilities at AWE Aldermaston, which is a major industrial site. The case study also includes the contribution from vehicle use in the impact assessment. The results of this work have clearly identified which facilities and hence which processes are causing the most damaging environmental impact. New risk assessment methods are developed to quantify environmental accidents, that include revised consequence definitions that can be applied without the need for modelling and thus offer an economical alternative to existing methods. A new six-step screening methodology is presented to identify potential major accidents to the environment (MATTE) and to comply with the COMAH Regulations 1999. A method to prioritise MATTE scenarios has also been developed. The research has revealed that the current approach to significance assessment does not provide enough sophistication for sites as complex as AWE Aldermaston. The impacts of most concern are environmental irradiation, the generation of all categories of waste and global warming. The impacts associated with radioactive discharges (to air, water and as waste) are given the highest weighting largely reflecting the concern of the major stakeholder groups (local community, regulatory bodies and pressure groups). The methods proposed can be readily applied to any nuclear or chemical site.

Nitrogen plays a major role in the metabolism of aquatic eco-systems. However, at low concentrations it can affect primary productivity and rise to very high concentrations, leading to eutrophication problems. Nitrogen compound fluxes in the aquatic environment are in the form of nitrate, ammonium or nitrite. Ammonium is soluble in the water column and depending on the type of sediment it can be adsorbed onto the sediments. Ammonium adsorption processes have been the main focus of this study in both deionised and saline waters, and for clean clay and sand and natural sediments taken from the Loughor Estuary, in Wales. An equation for ammonium adsorption onto bed sediments has been developed and included in the DIVAST water quality model, which is based on the QUAL2E US EPA model. The adsorption coefficient was found for both fresh and saline water conditions. It was found that adsorption, and consequently the adsorption coefficient, decreases with increasing salinity. Nitrate adsorption was also studied in this research project and it was confirmed that nitrate can adsorb only to specific types of clay, such as Kaolinite and organic matter. Salinity was found to influence nitrate adsorption on the clay and the types and amount of clay present in the bed sediments were found to have an impact on the nitrate mobility across the sediment water interface. The results of the field study for the Loughor Estuary have shown that ammonium adsorption decreased with increasing salinity. The highest amount of ammonium adsorption was found during March, at site 1b at 80.3 ug/g. Dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) was found to be dominated by nitrate and nitrite during autumn and spring, whereas the DIN was found to be dominated by ammonium in the summer. Ammonium and Nitrite concentrations of 4.25 mg/l and 10.23 mg/l respectively, were found to be the highest recorded in literature for UK estuaries. Nitrate concentrations were present on 30th June at all sampling sites and increased with incoming tide, indicating the coastal water source for nitrates during this time of the year. The suspended sediment present in the Loughor Estuary was found to be independent of the velocities present and not sensitive to the difference in velocities.

Development and expansion of renewable energy generation is one of the highest political and environmental priorities facing today's Governments. Due to increased demand for green technology, the range of options for generating clean energy has expanded. In the case of energy generation from waste sources, it has been further fuelled by increasing pressure for environmentally benign waste disposal systems, burgeoning waste volumes and concerns over secondary pollution from disposed waste. An industry that is integral to energy production, and has a high profile in terms of environmental protection and pollution remediation, is oil spill response. There is scope for expanding the environmental management of the oil spill response industry to incorporate using waste oil from spill incidents as a source of fuel. In order for potential markets (in terms of environmental protection, waste management and energy generation) to be exploited, the necessary range of education and training demands must be established, developed and delivered. Education and training from grass roots to strategic management and Government levels are essential aspects in establishing the knowledge base, compliance, maintaining standards and ongoing development. This thesis examines the integration of the management of the waste stream, energy generation from waste and focuses specifically on the disposal of oil spill waste. The outputs of the research fall into two categories, (i) A series of laboratory and ex-situ field trials to quantify the potential of oil from marine spill incidents as a fuel source, to evaluate the effectiveness of pixel analysis as a mechanism to monitor the efficacy of oil spill response technologies, and to record the percentage recovery of oil and sorbent from the environment as a measure of clean up effectiveness, (ii) To examine the role and impact of education and training initiatives in disseminating scientific, technical and legislative material on bioremediation of marine oil spills. The research demonstrated that there are sufficient levels of carbon present in range of compounds of oils and sorbents from marine oil spill incidents to be utilised as fuel. Pixel analysis was established as an effective technique, oil and sorbent compound dependent, to quantify the extent to which oil had been removed from the environment. Percentage recovery was deemed a value-added data set to analyse the effectiveness of sorbents at recovering oils with varying viscosities. In terms of education and training, feedback from distance learning initiatives specifically developed for the research pathway, including undergraduate modules, and workshops and training courses for professionals and industry was analysed and integrated into the distance learning material on bioremediation. The positive nature of the feedback and subsequent suggestions for expanding the courses from all target audiences, demonstrated their impact, importance and effectiveness within the scope of the environmental management process. These recommendations contributed to the development and design of the bioremediation research.