This thesis is concerned with the conceptual foundations of environmental law and policy in the Great Lakes basin, the world's largest freshwater ecosystem. The Great Lakes regime is now widely recognized as one of the most advanced international environmental management regimes in existence. Over the past two decades, toxic contamination has emerged as a highly pressing ecological issue in the Great Lakes basin. In Canada and the United States, the ecosystem approach, a comprehensive and integrated approach to environmental management, has been adopted both bilaterally and domestically in the Great Lakes' complex environmental policy framework to guide the protection of ecological integrity. There has been extensive discussion of the ecosystem approach, particularly from scientific and managerial perspectives; however, the economic content of the concept has been largely neglected, despite the importance of considering all relevant perspectives in the development of law and policy. This thesis is divided into five chapters. After discussing in Chapter 1 the ecological and institutional contexts and methodological issues of the analysis, this thesis defends, in Chapter 2, the view that economic theory has relevance to issues of environmental law and policy. In addition to highlighting the main contours of welfare and environmental economic theory, a main conclusion, and an essential premise upon which the analysis proceeds, is that economics remains a useful analytical approach to environmental issues, despite some important criticisms. Subsequently, in Chapter 3, the analysis shifts to an examination of four bilateral and domestic Great Lakes instruments that form the core of Great Lakes toxic pollution policy: (i) the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement; (ii) the Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy; (iii) the Canada-Ontario Agreement; and (iv) the Final Water Quality Guidance for the Great Lakes System. After outlining key principles underpinning each instrument, the thesis underscores common themes running through the collective policy framework. The ecosystem approach constitutes a unifying concept in this framework. The ecosystem approach is examined from an economic perspective in Chapter 4. After identifying key elements of the ecosystem approach, this chapter highlights important parallels between fundamental welfare and environmental economic notions. One main conclusion is that economic concepts and approaches, such as environmental valuation, externalities, and self-interest, form an integral part of the ecosystem approach. Finally, Chapter 5 identifies some directions for further research. Given that, as the thesis seeks to establish, economic theory constitutes an important, albeit not sole, perspective on the ecosystem approach, a key challenge will be to facilitate interdisciplinary analysis and cooperation leading to effective operationalization of the concept. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

[Truncated abstract] The application of reductionism, breaking down problems to simpler components that can be solved and then aggregating the results, is one of the bases of classical science. However, living organisms, ecosystems, social and economic structures are complex systems, characterised by non-linear interactions between their elements and exhibit emergent properties that are not directly traceable to their components. Sustainability assessment frameworks oversimplify system interactions, achieving limited predictive capacity and causing managerial behavior that may reduce system's ability to adapt to external disturbance. Intrigued by the importance of complexity, we explore the central theme of how complex thinking can influence the understanding and progress towards sustainability. The purpose is to conceptualize the relationship of key terms (such as sustainability, functionality and resilience), and consecutively develop new or adjust existing sustainability frameworks to take into account complex systems interactions. We aim at developing theory and frameworks that can be used to raise awareness of the pitfalls of the growth paradigm and direct towards modest positions when managing complex systems. We seek to define the structural elements that influence system adaptive capacity, allowing identification of early signs of system rigidity or vulnerability and the development of knowledge and techniques that can improve our predictive and managerial ability. The focus has been on a variety of system scales and dynamics. At the collective community level, a number of stakeholder engagement practices and frameworks are currently available. However, there is limited awareness of the complexity challenges among stakeholders, who are commonly directed to a triple bottom line analysis aiming at maximizing a combination of outputs. An attempt is conducted to measure the functionality of the processes underlying a standing stock, in contrast to sustainability measures that only assess the variations of the standing stock itself. We develop the Index of Sustainable Functionality (ISF), a framework for the assessment of complex systems interactions within a large-scale geographic domain and apply it to the State of Western Australia. '...' Finally, we focus on smaller systems scales and develop a methodology for the calculation of Product Ecological Footprint (PEF) including elements from the accounting method of activity based costing. We calculate PEF for three apple production systems and identify significant differences from first stage calculations within the same industry. Cross-industry application will provide a practical way to link individuals' consumption with their ecological impact, reduce misperceptions of products' ecological impacts and develop a market-driven approach to internalizing environmental externalities. At the firm level PEF can be compared with investment costs, resulting in the opportunity to optimize both functions of financial cost and ecological impact in decision making. We have developed methods for incorporating complexity in sustainability assessment frameworks. Further work is required in testing and validating these methodologies at multiple system scales and conditions. Integrating such tools in decision making mechanisms will enhance long-term management of socioecological systems performance.

University of Macau / Faculty of Law

Despite the pollution control provisions provided in national and local legislation that explicitly or implicitly give effect to the polluter pays principle (PPP), certain rivers continue to suffer from persistent industrial pollution. This research focuses on one such river, the Bayne's Spruit, as a case study. The Bayne's Spruit is a small river that is located within an urban catchment, and which has been subjected to wet industrial pollution for over a decade. Much of this pollution is associated with the Pietermaritzburg edible oil industry. This pollution impacts negatively on a downstream community that uses the river for irrigation of subsistence crops, for recreation and for subsistence fish harvesting. The pollution has also severely degraded the riverine ecosystem. This research commenced with a literature review of the PPP in its international, national and local context. It was noted that the current legislative framework for implementation of the PPP with regard to pollution of rivers in South Africa comprises primarily of the National Water Act 36 of 1998 (NWA), the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998, and the Pietermaritzburg-Msunduzi industrial effluent bylaws of November 1998. The case study was approached using a largely qualitative methodology, although quantitative data was also relied upon where feasible. The historical context of the case study was provided by conducting a review of newspaper reports, a review of. government inspection records, and a review of water quality data (including biomonitoring and chemical data). The current status of the Bayne's Spruit was then explored by conducting in-depth historical interviews with community members, and by conducting direct observation of the environmental status of the Bayne's Spruit. This data was supplemented by an analysis of the test results of sampled industrial effluent, and by information obtained from representatives of two edible oil companies. In-depth, purposively selected interviews were conducted with various role players. (local government, regional government and industry) to identify what factors are preventing the successful implementation of the PPP in the case study area. Factors identified include a lack of environmental ethic within the edible oil industry, with some of these companies free riding on the Bayne's Spruit to maximize their profits. At a local level, factors preventing implementation of the PPP include deficiencies in the local industrial effluent bylaws, failures to administer and implement provisions contained in the bylaws, capacity restrictions and institutional paralysis. National legislation is not being successfully implemented because the government agency empowered under the NWA is deferring primary responsibility for dealing with pollution to the local authority. Factors also include difficulties associated with monitoring of rivers, including lack of capacity to engage in monitoring, and confusion over the functions of the various spheres of government. Finally, enforcement complexities are a major factor preventing successful implementation of the PPP. These problems relate to inadequate penalties, enforcement arrangements, capacity problems, separation of authority to operate the municipal sewer works and to enforce the industrial effluent bylaws, difficulties in identifying the offending polluter (causation), problems with access to company premises, the open access character of the storm water drainage system, previous failed prosecutions and reliance on the criminal justice system. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, 2002.

С точки зрения экологизации производственных процессов перед исследователями и промышленниками, перед муниципальными властями выдвигается необходимость обеспечить максимально возможную безвредность технологических процессов и полное использование всех отходов производства, а с точки зрения экономики возникает необходимость минимизации затрат предприятия, путем ведения его эффективной налоговой политики в области землепользования, а также разработки методов стимулирования к рациональному использованию земли. Целью магистерской диссертации является разработка модели налогового поведения промышленного предприятия при размещении отходов производства на земле. Анализ основывался на рассмотрении техногенной нагрузки на земли и почвы Свердловской области, а также изучении существующих методов и инструментов управления налоговой нагрузкой промышленного предприятия в части использования земель. В качестве источников информации использовались нормативно-правовые акты РФ, база публикаций Российского индекса научного цитирования, представленная на ресурсе Elibrary, статистические данные по исследуемой тематике, данные отчетности ФНС. В ходе написания магистерской диссертации была разработана и апробирована модель налогового поведения отходопроизводителя. Использование данной модели нацелено на снижение налоговой нагрузки отходообразующего предприятия в части использования земель путем оптимизации налоговых платежей, учитывая интересы налогоплательщика и экологическую обстановку в регионе. Предложен авторский подход к совершенствованию размера платы за пользование земельным ресурсом (налог на землю, арендная плата, нормативная цена земли), в основу которого положен принцип дифференциации ставок, что обусловит внедрение технологий утилизации в целях сокращения площади занимаемых земель. В результате апробации разработанной модели был выявлен вариант эффективного налогового поведения с максимально возможной экономической выгодой. / From the point of view of greening production processes, researchers and industrialists, municipal authorities are required to ensure the maximum possible harmlessness of technological processes and the full use of all production waste, and from an economic point of view, there is a need to minimize the costs of an enterprise by maintaining its effective land use tax policy, and the development of incentive methods for the rational use of land. The purpose of the master's thesis is to develop a model of the tax behavior of an industrial enterprise when disposing of production waste on the ground. The analysis was based on the consideration of the technogenic load on the land and soil of the Sverdlovsk region, as well as the study of the existing methods and tools for managing the tax burden of an industrial enterprise in terms of land use. The sources of information were the regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation, the database of publications of the Russian Science Citation Index, presented on the Elibrary resource, statistical data on the subject under study, and data from the FTS reporting.. In the course of writing the master's thesis, a model of tax evacuation behavior was developed and tested. The use of this model is aimed at reducing the tax burden of the waste- forming enterprise in terms of land use by optimizing tax payments, taking into account the interests of the taxpayer and the environmental situation in the region. An author's approach is proposed to improve the size of payment for the use of land (land tax, rent, normative price of land), which is based on the principle of differentiation of rates, which will lead to the introduction of recycling technologies in order to reduce the area of land occupied. As a result of testing the developed model, a variant of effective tax behavior with the greatest possible economic benefit was identified.

O interesse sobre Pagamento por Serviços Ambientais (PSA) deve-se à possibilidade de conciliar os interesses econômicos da propriedade rural com a conservação ambiental, conforme previsto em recentes legislações. Desde a instituição do Código Florestal pela Lei n.º 4.771/1965, o Brasil adota a Reserva Legal e a Área de Preservação Permanente (APP) como mecanismos de manutenção de áreas protegidas particulares. Pela Constituição Brasileira de 1988, a exploração de propriedades rurais está condicionada à responsabilidade socioambiental, que visa garantir a preservação dos recursos naturais para a manutenção das condições ambientais de interesse de toda a sociedade. Buscando conciliar o interesse particular dos produtores aos interesses sociais da qualidade ambiental, o Pagamento por Serviços Ambientais (PSA), contemplado nas recentes legislações federais e estaduais, visa integrar interesses econômicos e ambientais. A Lei n.º 12.651/2012, que alterou o Código Florestal, previu instrumentos econômicos para gerar incentivos e ampliar a atratividade em manter áreas protegidas em propriedades particulares, mediante valoração dos recursos naturais. No Paraná, foi sancionada a Lei n.º 17.134/2012, que instituiu o Pagamento por Serviços Ambientais. Essas leis ainda carecem de regulamentos e mecanismos operacionais para sua efetiva implementação, sendo propósito deste trabalho verificar as possibilidades e limitações do PSA na conservação de áreas protegidas particulares, mediante revisão bibliográfica sobre PSA e análise de políticas ambientais de proteção de áreas adotadas no Paraná, complementadas por entrevistas com técnicos que trabalharam com essas políticas. O objetivo do trabalho é sugerir mecanismos para que esses instrumentos de política pública efetivamente incentivem os produtores a manterem áreas protegidas e sejam capazes de despertar o interesse de agentes usuários nos serviços ambientais, mediante estabelecimento de condutas e regulamentos legais. / Environmental Service Payment (Pagamento por Serviço Ambiental - PSA) is addressed to meet the need of conciliating rural property economic interests and environment conservation, according to the new environment laws. Since Law n. 4771/1965 established the Forestry Code, Brazil uses the natural resources’ Legal Reserves and Permanent Preservation Areas (Área de Preservação Permanente- APP) as mechanisms to help maintaining private protected areas preserved. As provided in the Brazilian Constitution of 1988, rural property exploration is subjected to socio-environmental liabilities in order to assure the preservation of natural resources and maintain ideal environmental conditions in behalf of the society interests. The Environmental Service Payment, in force both at Federal and State levels, seeks the conciliation between the producer private interest and the environment quality social interests. Law n. 12651/2012, which changed the Forestry Code, provides economic tools addressed to encourage rural property owners to maintain protected areas within their private properties through increasing the natural resources value. In the State of Paraná, Law n. 17134/2012 established the Environmental Service Payment. The aforementioned laws need rules, regulations and operation tools to be effectively implemented. The present work aims at checking the Environmental Service Payment possibilities and limitations concerning private protected area conservation in the State of Paraná through carrying out a bibliographic review and analyzing the environment protection policies, besides interviewing technicians who work with such policies. Our work objective is also to suggest mechanisms able to effectively encourage rural producers to maintain and protect natural areas, as well as to arouse the environmental user interest by establishing legal behaviors and rules.

O interesse sobre Pagamento por Serviços Ambientais (PSA) deve-se à possibilidade de conciliar os interesses econômicos da propriedade rural com a conservação ambiental, conforme previsto em recentes legislações. Desde a instituição do Código Florestal pela Lei n.º 4.771/1965, o Brasil adota a Reserva Legal e a Área de Preservação Permanente (APP) como mecanismos de manutenção de áreas protegidas particulares. Pela Constituição Brasileira de 1988, a exploração de propriedades rurais está condicionada à responsabilidade socioambiental, que visa garantir a preservação dos recursos naturais para a manutenção das condições ambientais de interesse de toda a sociedade. Buscando conciliar o interesse particular dos produtores aos interesses sociais da qualidade ambiental, o Pagamento por Serviços Ambientais (PSA), contemplado nas recentes legislações federais e estaduais, visa integrar interesses econômicos e ambientais. A Lei n.º 12.651/2012, que alterou o Código Florestal, previu instrumentos econômicos para gerar incentivos e ampliar a atratividade em manter áreas protegidas em propriedades particulares, mediante valoração dos recursos naturais. No Paraná, foi sancionada a Lei n.º 17.134/2012, que instituiu o Pagamento por Serviços Ambientais. Essas leis ainda carecem de regulamentos e mecanismos operacionais para sua efetiva implementação, sendo propósito deste trabalho verificar as possibilidades e limitações do PSA na conservação de áreas protegidas particulares, mediante revisão bibliográfica sobre PSA e análise de políticas ambientais de proteção de áreas adotadas no Paraná, complementadas por entrevistas com técnicos que trabalharam com essas políticas. O objetivo do trabalho é sugerir mecanismos para que esses instrumentos de política pública efetivamente incentivem os produtores a manterem áreas protegidas e sejam capazes de despertar o interesse de agentes usuários nos serviços ambientais, mediante estabelecimento de condutas e regulamentos legais. / Environmental Service Payment (Pagamento por Serviço Ambiental - PSA) is addressed to meet the need of conciliating rural property economic interests and environment conservation, according to the new environment laws. Since Law n. 4771/1965 established the Forestry Code, Brazil uses the natural resources’ Legal Reserves and Permanent Preservation Areas (Área de Preservação Permanente- APP) as mechanisms to help maintaining private protected areas preserved. As provided in the Brazilian Constitution of 1988, rural property exploration is subjected to socio-environmental liabilities in order to assure the preservation of natural resources and maintain ideal environmental conditions in behalf of the society interests. The Environmental Service Payment, in force both at Federal and State levels, seeks the conciliation between the producer private interest and the environment quality social interests. Law n. 12651/2012, which changed the Forestry Code, provides economic tools addressed to encourage rural property owners to maintain protected areas within their private properties through increasing the natural resources value. In the State of Paraná, Law n. 17134/2012 established the Environmental Service Payment. The aforementioned laws need rules, regulations and operation tools to be effectively implemented. The present work aims at checking the Environmental Service Payment possibilities and limitations concerning private protected area conservation in the State of Paraná through carrying out a bibliographic review and analyzing the environment protection policies, besides interviewing technicians who work with such policies. Our work objective is also to suggest mechanisms able to effectively encourage rural producers to maintain and protect natural areas, as well as to arouse the environmental user interest by establishing legal behaviors and rules.

Location is a critical component of business decisions. A firm's location decision may be influenced not only by market forces, such as the location of input suppliers, output processors and competitors, but also by government policies if such policies impact their expected profits and are applied non-uniformly across space. Likewise, a firm may adjust its business strategy, including opening and closing establishments and laying off employees as responses to changes in environmental regulations. In certain polluting industries, location decisions may include choosing potential storage sites for geologic carbon sequestration or finding landfills for industrial solid waste. There is extensive literature discussing the effects of environmental regulations or agglomeration economies on firm location decisions but few studies analyze the interactive effect of environmental regulations and agglomeration economies across regions in the United States. The potential consequences of changes in environmental regulations may include loss of polluting establishments, jobs, and income. Geological carbon sequestration offers long term storage opportunities to mitigate greenhouse gases (GHGs). Incorporating environmental risk into economic assessments of geological sequestration choices is crucial for finding optimal strategies in using alternative carbon storage sites with limited capacity. This dissertation consists of three essays that address the above issues. The first essay examines the interactive effects of air quality regulation and agglomeration economies on polluting firms' location decisions in the United States. Newly available annual (1989-2006) county-level manufacturing plant location data for the United States on seven pollution intensive manufacturing industries are applied in the analysis. Conditional Poisson and negative binomial models are estimated, an efficient GMM estimator is also employed to control for endogenous regulatory and agglomeration variables. Results indicate that births of pollution intensive manufacturers are deterred by stricter environmental regulation; and are attracted by local agglomeration economies. County attainment/nonattainment designations can impose heterogeneous impacts over space and across industries. The magnitude of the regulatory effect depends on the level of local agglomeration. Urbanization economies offset the negative impacts of environmental regulation, whereas localization economies can reinforce or offset the negative impacts of environmental regulation, depending on the industry. The second essay analyzes the effect of changes in regulatory environmental standards on the total stocks of establishments and local jobs and income Results indicate the effects vary across counties in the United States. When the standards were raised to 80 percent of the current level, from 2007 to 2009, the affected counties would lose a total of 326 establishments, 14,711 jobs with $705 million U.S. dollars of income each year. At the national economy level, the impacts of tightening environmental regulations are relatively small. The third essay constructs a dynamic optimization framework that deals with optimal utilization of alternative nonrenewable resource sites (geological formations) with possible negative externalities. We apply the model to an optimal usage problem of alternative long term CO₂ geologic storage sites for carbon. The storage sites are different in terms of capacity and potential leakage after CO₂ injection; the problem is determining the minimum cost for storing a fixed amount of CO₂ (sequestered) within a certain time period. Analytical solutions show the decision rule depends on the discount rate, storage capacities, marginal CO₂ storage costs, and environmental damage costs associated with CO₂ leakage from alternative sinks. The framework provides critical information about the optimal timing of switching from one resource sequestration site to another. / Graduation date: 2013 / Access restricted to the OSU Community at author's request from Feb. 1, 2013 - Feb. 1, 2015