published_or_final_version / Civil Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

Project Completion Report, OWRT Project No. B-012-ARIZ / Agreement No. 14-31-0001-3056 / Period of Operation: July 1969 to June 1972 / Acknowledgement: The work upon which this report is based was supported by funds provided by the United States Department of the Interior, Office of Water Resources Research, as authorized under the Water Resources Research Act of 1964. / Rainfall and runoff studies initiated in 1968 by the University of Arizona provide data for three small urban watersheds with different land use patterns in Tucson, Arizona. Annual precipitation of about 11 inches produces annual runoff, as measured at outflow flumes, ranging from 1.30 to 3.95 inches, produced by 15 to 23 runoff events per year. About 60 to 70 percent of the annual runoff events occur in the summer season, as does 65 to 75 percent of the annual volume of measured runoff. Water samples collected on a lumped basis show generally high concentrations of suspended sediment, bacterial loading, and dissolved organics. Initial field treatment and exploratory laboratory studies of treatment methods indicate that three days is an optimal length of time for detention storage of runoff, reducing average pollutant concentrations to 62 mg /1 of turbidity, total coliform of 70 -3200 organisms per 100 mg /1, and 7 mg /1 of chemical oxygen demand. Simple laboratory treatment with alum and polyelectrolyte yielded an 80 percent reduction in COD, 90 percent reduction in bacterial loading, and appreciable clarification of the runoff samples. Continuing research should be conducted to utilize a longer data record for improving understanding of rainfall- runoff relations; to use distributed sampling within individual watershed areas to define specific pollutant source areas; and to incorporate economic and legal questions involved in the utilization of urban runoff in an arid area.

Research Project Technical Completion Report (B-023-ARIZ) For: United States Department of the Interior, Project Dates: 1971-1973. / The work upon which this report is based was supported by federal funds provided by the United States Department of the Interior, as authorized under the Water Research and Development Act of 1978, through Agreement No. 14-31-0001-3556. / Rainfall and runoff studies initiated by the University of Arizona provide data for three small urban watersheds from 1968 and one rural watershed from 1957 to 1969. These watersheds typify various land use patterns in Tucson, Arizona. Annual precipitation of about 11 inches produces annual runoff, as measured at outflow flumes, ranging from 0.44 inches in depth for the rural watershed and 1.10 to 2.10 inches for the urban watersheds. The runoff is produced by as few as 5 runoff events per year in the rural watershed and 16 to 22 events per year for the urban watersheds. About 60 percent of the rural and 50 to 58 percent of the urban annual runoff events occur in the summer season, as does 55 to 65 percent of the annual volume of measured runoff for both. There is about a four to five-fold increase in average yearly storm runoff volume with urbanization in the Tucson area. Water samples collected on a lumped basis show generally high concentrations of suspended sediment, bacterial loading, and dissolved organics. Initial field treatment and exploratory laboratory studies of treatment methods indicate that three days is an optimal length of time for detention storage of storm runoff, reducing average pollutant concentrations to 62 mg/1 of turbidity, total coliform of 70-3,200 organisms per 100 ml, and 7 mg/1 of chemical oxygen demand. Simple laboratory treatment with alum and polyelectrolyte yielded an 80 percent reduction in COD, 90 percent reduction in bacterial loading, and appreciable clarification of the runoff samples. Multi-purpose urban storm runoff management systems can be developed to control floods while at the same time maintaining water-based linear parks along minor stream channels in semiarid regions. Multi-purpose systems are more economical than the single-purpose systems required to accomplish the same purposes. Further studies are needed to characterize the quality of storm runoff from selected urban land use areas with a view toward on-site control and disposal.

Japan has often been cited as an example of a nation which is achieving the objectives of'sustainable development' as advocated by the Brundtland Commission. Various commentators believe that Japan attained rapid economic growth (at least until the current economic crisis which began in the early 1990s) while simultaneously protecting its environment, particularly after the oil crisis in 1973. However, this perspective ignores the fact that Japan's economic 'miracle' still involves the consumption of large quantities of low-entropy natural resources, and makes heavy use of the ecosphere's assimilative capacity for high-entropy wastes. Monetary analyses are excessively abstracted from biophysical reality and are therefore incapable of providing ecologically meaningful indices of sustainable development. Various biophysical approaches to assessment of sustainability have been proposed to fill the gap. In this dissertation, I use one of these, 'ecological footprint analysis,' to reassess the Japanese success story. The ecological footprint (EF) of a specified population has been defined as "the aggregate area of land and water ecosystems required continuously to produce the resource inputs and to assimilate the resource outputs of that population wherever on earth the land/water may be located." It provides a useful sustainability indicator in the form of the difference between a given country's ecological footprint and its domestic area of ecologically productive land/water. The gap between the two represents that country's 'ecological deficit' or 'sustainability gap.' Data from 1880 indicate that the per capita Japanese EF in the pre-industrial era was about 0.4 hectares (ha). By 1991 it had risen to 4.7 ha per person. Far from 'decoupling from nature,' the historic trend has seen a ten-fold increase in Japan's per capita load on the ecosphere. Japan is running a massive ecological deficit with the rest of the world. Moreover, since there are only about 1.5 ha of ecologically productive land and 0.5 ha of ecologically productive ocean per capita on Earth, Japanese material standards cannot be extended to the entire world population without depleting natural resource stocks. I conclude that the current level and form of Japanese resource consumption would be unsustainable if every country tried to do the same. Global society needs to consider alternative development paths that will reduce resource consumption by the inhabitants of high-income countries while enhancing their quality of life.

This thesis explores the controversial Panama Canal expansion proposals using an analytical framework developed by Herman Daly, an ecological economist at the University of Maryland and a critic of traditional models economic development. At a time when nearly every nation seeks to increase the size of its economy, Daly has been an ardent advocate of setting limits to economic growth, arguing that, as the earth is materially closed, there cannot be infinite growth of the consumption of material and energy resources within a finite (nongrowing) biosphere. These limits should be defined by the regenerative and waste absorptive capacities of the biosphere. My objective here is to test the feasibility of implementing a policy at the local resource management level that is guided by the recognition of ecological limits to economic growth. I employ a water management technique developed by The Nature Conservancy called the Range of Variability Approach (RVA) and test its utility in setting an ecologically-based limit to water withdrawal and river system modification in the Panama Canal watershed. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The high pressures for coastal development, translated as prolific land cover transformation, coupled with the weaknesses of management to protect the environment has led to the gradual deterioration of environmental conditions in many coastal areas. Land use decisions in coastal areas are based on opportunities and constraints affected by both biophysical and socio-economic drivers, and hence present one of the main issues integrating the large debate on sustainable development in coastal zones (Lourenço and Machado, 2007: 1). The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of the integration of spatial analysis and participatory approaches in SEA (particularly its ability to identify and predict ecological impacts) on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast of South Africa. The study adopted a conceptual framework based on landscape ecology, which was underpinned within the overarching political ecology framework. The former underscores the importance of integration, while the latter critiques the institutionalization of environmental concerns, which are characterized by inequalities in terms of social and political power and of how problems are defined, mediated and resolved. Hence this conceptual framework was considered appropriate to assess the strategic environmental issues pertaining to the coastal zone on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast. The researcher used participatory methods, primarily focus group discussions (which included venn diagramming, ranking exercises and participatory mapping) which were triangulated with both quantitative and qualitative methods as part of an integrated impact assessment. These relate to the use of semistructured questionnaires which were administered to a purposive sample of six key stakeholder interest groups within the study area. A spatial GIS time series analysis of land use and cover change was employed to determine baseline conditions, changes in the state of key ecosystems, key development drivers and emerging threats. Additionally, a policy and institutional review was undertaken. The analysis revealed that major natural land cover classes are in decline in the study area,within a time period of less than 10 years. The most sensitive ecosystems were found to be grasslands (-19.99%), coastal forest (-40%), wetlands (-37.49%) and secondary dunes (- 21.44%). Furthermore, agriculture and forestry are also indicating severe declines. The reasons attributed to this transformation of land cover are increasingly being linked with economic motives such as individual private land-owner dynamics, tourism growth and development in the area. Furthermore, the policy agendas are clearly economically motivated. These losses signify the cumulative decline in ecosystem goods and services, and could undermine pose risks to the society that relies on them either directly or indirectly. One of the main considerations in this research endeavor was to formulate a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Framework to inform future ICZM in the study area. SEA is planning with a long-term perspective, with a focus on a spatial rather than a project level, an element that is clearly lacking in the current development scenario of this coastline. It is critical that the SEA Framework advocated in this study include a range of variables that will permit short-term, medium-term and long-term monitoring and evaluation aimed at ensuring sustainable planning in the area. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

Urban green spaces and trees are increasingly recognised as crucial elements in the quest for urban sustainability internationally, and for the promotion of urban liveability and quality of life in cities. So much so that many countries now have guidelines or regulations regarding either the amount of urban greenery that must be provided per capita, or the maximum distance that any dwelling can be from green spaces of stipulated sizes. For example, the European Union recently more than doubled its recommendation of 9 m2 of public green per person to 20 m2 per person.

Orientador: Ademar Ribeiro Romeiro / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Economia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-23T01:13:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Saes_BeatrizMacchione_M.pdf: 1641824 bytes, checksum: 36a8dbc6ea692c50bfb24863162dda60 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: O principal objetivo da dissertação é discutir a necessidade de uma estrutura analítica que se pode chamar de macroeconomia ecológica e sistematizar o debate acerca do tema. O trabalho tem como hipótese que existe uma deficiência da economia ecológica, de caráter metodológico, no que diz respeito à discussão de políticas macroeconômicas. A abordagem econômico-ecológica considera o caráter biofísico e entrópico dos processos econômicos, que fundamenta sua crítica paradigmática ao mainstream da economia, mas ainda não consolidou uma macroeconomia correspondente a essa visão. Consideramos que esse seria um avanço importante, pois forneceria bases para a discussão de políticas e reformas macroeconômicas condizentes com a finalidade de viabilizar uma economia ecologicamente sustentável. Essa finalidade depende da compreensão de relações entre os sistemas econômico e ecológico, caracterizadas por grande grau de incerteza e complexidade, e da determinação da escala ótima da macroeconomia - que implica a necessidade de abandono do objetivo de promover o crescimento econômico ilimitado. Tendo em vista a perspectiva da economia ecológica, identificamos que o esforço de construção de uma macroeconomia ecológica tem tomado duas direções. A primeira é de aprofundar e sistematizar duas iniciativas, que propõem uma sociedade pós-crescimento - a condição estável e o decrescimento. A outra consiste em construir modelos macroeconômicos que permitam abranger as relações entre variáveis econômicas e ambientais e que trabalhem com limites à escala do sistema econômico. Concluímos afirmando que, embora avanços importantes tenham sido realizados, a macroeconomia ecológica ainda apresenta contornos vagos, sendo necessários maiores esforços para consolidá-la / Abstract: The main objective of this dissertation is to discuss the need for an analytical framework that can be called ecological macroeconomics and systematize the debate on the subject. This work has hypothesized that there is a deficiency in ecological economics, of a methodological character, with regard to the discussion of macroeconomic policies. The economic-ecological approach, which considers the biophysical and entropic nature of the economic process, generates a paradigmatic criticism of mainstream economics. However, a macroeconomics corresponding to this vision has not yet been consolidated. We believe that this consolidation would be an important advance, since it would ground the discussion of macroeconomic policies and reforms consistent with the purpose of facilitating environmentally sustainable economy. This goal depends on understanding relationships between ecological and economic systems, characterized by great uncertainty and complexity, and determining the optimal scale of the macroeconomy - which implies the need to abandon the goal of promoting unlimited economic growth. Given the perspective of ecological economics, we identified that the effort to build an ecological macroeconomics has taken two directions. The first is that of deepening and systematizing two initiatives that propose a post-growth society - steady-state and degrowth. The other is that of building macroeconomic models that enable including the relationships between economic environmental variables, which work with limits to the scale of the economic system. We conclude by stating that although significant progress has been made, the ecological macroeconomics still has vague contours, requiring greater efforts to consolidate it / Mestrado / Desenvolvimento Economico, Espaço e Meio Ambiente / Mestra em Desenvolvimento Econômico

Please read the abstract in the 00front part of this document / Thesis (DCom (Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Economics / unrestricted

There is a consensus globally that climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing operations. Immediate actions are required to reduce the carbon footprint in order for the environment to endure future logistics processes and activities (The National Treasury department of South Africa, 2010). Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are emissions generated from manufacturing processes, distribution networks and treatments processes (Verfaillie and Bidwell, 2000). Companies globally are expected to monitor pollution and focus on reducing the discharge of pollutants. Logistics Managers are therefore pressured to reduce the carbon footprint as it affects the environment and our health. Companies are becoming more concerned with the impact of various activities and processes on the environment. Traditional logistics models, primarily focuses on minimising cost with little focus on the environmental impact and sustaining operations for the future (Sbihi and Eglese, 2009) General Motors (GM) is a multi-national vehicle manufacturer with operations in various countries. GM filed for bankruptcy in 2009 resulting in the formation of the new GM; one of the focus areas was to ensure sustainability which resulted in the introduction of the ‘Sustainability in motion’ program in 2009 (New York Times, 2009). General Motors South Africa (GMSAf) is a vehicle assembler with manufacturing facilities and head offices located in Port Elizabeth. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the multinational General Motors Company. The aim of the research is to determine whether a culture that promotes environmentally conscious behaviour exists within employees and their relationships within a team, with management, stakeholders and suppliers. The study will assist in highlighting areas which need improvement to enable the creation of environmentally sustainable initiatives and implementation thereof. The empirical study revealed that the following management commitment, education and training, performance management and participation and involvement were important factors in the effective implementation of an environmental sustainability program.