Building on the development of a research agenda, the research used best practices in the UK and other developed countries to design the aims and objectives from which the methods were developed. Based on the research agenda, trends in household behaviour in Cameroon were examined in order to identify, and generate baseline information to provide a sound evidence base essential for robust policy development in education, capacity building in composting involving the third sector organizations in Cameroon. To determine attitudes, Q methodology was used. Factor analysis produced nine and eight factors representing distinct behavioural patterns of public concerns, opinions and beliefs in household waste management in Douala and Limbe. Interpreting these factors revealed 12 attitudes to household waste management practices and this will be used to design strategies. A waste composition analysis found the organic fraction >60% with the lowest per capita waste generation (0.86 kg) in the high income residential area (HIRA) and the highest (1.38 kg) in the low income residential area (LIRA) of Douala in the wet season. In the dry season, the medium income residential area (MIRA) had the highest (1.11 kg) with the lowest (0.71 kg) in the HIRA. For both seasons in Limbe, HIRA had the highest while the LIRA had the lowest. Pearson correlation and regression was used to show the relationship between waste generation and household size. The research determined barriers and success factors for composting as part of a strategy. Barriers included household hazardous waste (HHW) and odour at composting sites because more than 50% of the composted waste was food waste with high humidity especially in the wet season. This affected public acceptance to composting. A success factor is that the market for compost is increasing and is expected to increase to 30% by 2013. Added to this, more than 50% of the participating households showed positive intentions and willingness to composting. Hence, composting is expected to be a major economic activity for Cameroonians and become a national practice

Atmospheric dispersion models are being increasingly used by local authorities in the United Kingdom as part of their urban air quality management programmes. Output from dispersion models now forms a vital part of any environmental impact assessment, road improvement or traffic management scheme or environmental health study. This study is centred primarily on Northampton, a county town in Southern England and is concerned with the limitations of meteorological data available to local authorities. The first part of the study investigates the variation in certain key meteorological parameters both within Northampton and between synoptic stations up to 70 kilometres away. The second part examines modelling outcomes using different sets of meteorological data and evaluates the performance of an urban dispersion model in relation to monitored air quality data. Special emphasis is placed on the use of cloud cover as a meteorological input variable. A small case study of monitoring and modelling work carried out in the London Borough of Richmond is also presented

Waste Strategy 2000 (Waste Strategy for England and Wales) as well as the Waste Strategy for England 2007 laid out a fairly conservative agenda for the future of waste management in England as it responded to the developing EU Legislative drive for sustainable practice. A careful analysis of the Strategy, in around 2001, whereby likely future delivery was compared to EU requirements revealed that the UK (being disaggregated into 4 separate strategies) was unlikely to meet targets, in particular the Landfill Directive. The production of the Strategy Unit report Waste Not Want Not (2002) signalled up the requirement for a rapid increase in the rate of adoption of more sustainable practice. The result was the formation of the Waste Implementation Programme (WIP) in Defra, with its initial 8 streams of activity, including waste minimisation / prevention and pro-environmental behaviour. This research agenda approaches the topic from considering the requirements of a Regional Waste Management Strategy and in particular the knowledge requirements of a Regional Technology Advisory Board (RTAB) in developing waste strategy for the East Midlands. Firstly, starting with an extensive literature review to ascertain current practice, and based on rigorous methods and methodology the research investigated household waste prevention activities and developed techniques to measure impacts of individual and aggregated waste prevention. This research revealed a significant drop in the volume of waste arisings in a pilot area, indicating that it is possible to reduce household waste with a well designed campaign. Secondly, to support the research, Q methodology was used to identify issues of concern for designing waste prevention campaigns. Thirdly, a case study of Northamptonshire to identify potential suitable areas for siting of waste management facilities, using GIS tools, so as to identify possible target areas for future public information campaigns was developed.

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

KZN Nature Conservation Services budgetary cuts for the KrantzkloofNature Reserve (KNR) has led to economic shortfalls in important areas like facilities maintenance and invader plant control. The study has found that the benefits of maintaining KNR, determined from the estimated Total Economic Value (TEV), are huge and far outweigh the budget shortfall. The shortfall has been closed by user charging, the timing of which has prevented any deterioration in the facilities and ecology ofKNR due to budget cuts. Facilities maintenance needs to be prioritized to protect the user charge funding base and alien invader control needs to be prioritized due to escalating costs and the magnitude of the problem. The study has found that subcatchment stakeholder groups in the developing Emolweni forum, within which KNR is strategically placed, are strongly associated with local conservancies which will essentially provide the backbone for the envisaged forum. In order for stakeholder groups to be more representative, however, it is important for local conservancies to fmd a way to draw in community groups not normally involved in conservation work. The forum should provide networking and support for projects like environmental education, income generation and rehabilitation that will allow these community groups to participate in conservation work in a meaningful way. Delivery should occur through strategically placed community institutions like schools and clinics and should target young people and the unemployed. Nature reserves have largely untapped resources and a quasi- option value project is explored that combines alien vegetation control with the development of an indigenous nursery in an ecological and economic sustainable manner. It is envisaged that income derived from the sale of horticultural plants may substitute the income derived from medicinal plants and thus reduce the pressure applied on KNR's threatened resources by the unemployed. The study recommends that the subcatchment be divided into manageable units, based on a situational analysis, out of which particular criteria and objectives can be developed. Surveys, inventories, mapping and research activities should be carried out, with reports on the state or use of soil, water and biota submitted to the forum, which can then provide management solutions. / Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

<p> In a large-scale outdoor, airborne, hazardous materials (HAZMAT) incident, such as ruptured chlorine rail cars during a train derailment, the local Incident Commanders and HAZMAT emergency responders must obtain accurate information quickly to assess the situation and act promptly and appropriately. HAZMAT responders must have a clear understanding of key information and how to integrate it into timely and effective decisions for action planning. This study examined the use of HAZMAT plume modeling as a decision support tool during incident action planning in this type of extreme HAZMAT incident. The concept of Situation Awareness as presented by Endsley's dynamic situation awareness model contains three levels: perception, comprehension and projection. It was used to examine the actions of incident managers related to adequate data acquisition, current situational understanding, and accurate situation projection. Scientists and engineers have created software to simulate and predict HAZMAT plume behavior, the projected hazard impact areas, and the associated health effects. Incorporating the use of HAZMAT plume projection modeling into an Incident Action Plan may be a complex process. The present analysis employed a mixed qualitative and quantitative methodological approach and examined the use and limitations of a "HAZMAT Plume Modeling Cycle" process that can be integrated into the incident action planning cycle. HAZMAT response experts were interviewed using a computer-based simulation. One of the research conclusions indicated the "HAZMAT Plume Modeling Cycle" is a critical function so that an individual/team can be tasked with continually updating the hazard plume model with evolving data, promoting more accurate situation awareness.</p>

The extraction of raw materials has environmental impacts. Forestry and the extraction of coal, oil, natural gas, gold and other minerals can have serious impacts on the environment. Exploration and evaluation, development activities, production and mine closure result in high costs. The years of waiting between the start of exploration, commencement of production and mine closure create specific challenges in accounting for mining organisations. Most of the damages caused by mining activities cannot be hidden because of the processes involved, it is best to prevent it rather than avoidance. It is important to implement Environmental Management Accounting (EMA), which will assist in presenting a decision-making system for corporations. The system measures and promotes environmental performance by identifying effective cost assessment structures. This study assessed the awareness of environmental management accounting in the mining industry. An analytical methodology was used. A questionnaire was administered to a selected group of participants. It was based on the employee’s understanding of their organisation’s practices or point of view on environmental issues to build a case about the awareness of environmental management accounting. Selected participants were mine management or mine production personnel, financial practitioners and environmental practitioners from different mining organisations in the Gauteng, Mpumalanga and North-West provinces of the Republic of South Africa. All participants in the study are employees in the mining industry. Mine management is less aware of environmental management accounting compared to environmental and financial practitioners. Mine production personnel only perceive environmental issues as costs to the operations. This group rated compliance with regulation as the main driver for their organisation’s environmental management system. Gauteng province is more aware of environmental management accounting compared to Mpumalanga and North West provinces. Organisations with high annual turnover tend to disclose more financial environmental information than those with low annual turnover. Organisations explain and classify environment-related costs differently according to the intended use of the cost information. There are standards and measures to collect and record environmental and accounting information stipulated in ISO14001 including environmental management systems (EMS) in different organisations. Systems and measures put in place ensure good environmental performance in the mining operations. The tracking and reduction in the amount of energy, water and materials used by organisations may result in environmental benefits. Employees should have environmental cost information associated with their operations in order to minimise environmental impacts of an organisation. The findings of the study indicated low levels of awareness of environmental management accounting in the mining industry; however, there is a higher level of awareness of environmental impacts and costs, environmental management system and financial environmental information. The level of rating at which organisations generate and record physical and monetary information of environmental management accounting is higher. / MBAm, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

There is an increasing demand for information for the rational assessment and reporting of the state the environment, to detect change and to assess the effectiveness of policy or management measures. The research investigated the use of information by conservation organisations through case studies in the Statutory Nature Conservation Agencies and the North York Moors National Park. The results highlighted a number of key problems in the organisational use of information and in the content and utility of the data available. These included the lack of an organisational culture of information use, imperfect knowledge and utilisation of available data, the need to meet changing information demands and the requirement to produce comparable local, regional and national habitat stock estimates. Many of the data deficiencies highlighted would appear to be met by the Countryside Survey (CS) initiative. Despite offering potentially suitable data, with a combination of an environmental stratification (the ITE land class system), field survey and remotely sensed data, this source was little used. Thus, the study sought to assess the scope for comparing CS data with other habitat estimates and for improving the accuracy of these data through the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Three main techniques were employed, modified areal weighting, modified areal weighting with control zones and intelligent weighting’ a hybrid approach in which Land Cover Map of Great Britain (LCMGB) data were employed to redistribute Countryside Survey 1990 (CS9O) totals within ITE land classes. The research found that sub-land class estimates from CS9O data could be improved in some circumstances. In most cases, LCMGB provided better estimates of habitat location and quantity than CS9O. In a few cases, the intelligent weighting method improved the interpolation of CS9O estimates. It is suggested that regional habitat estimates may be improved further through greater within-land class differentiation, an increase in within-land class sampling intensity or stratification and the further development of the LCMGB. The problems faced in integrating, analysing and using available geographic data are considered and conclusions presented

An investigation has been undertaken to ascertain the extent of the existing knowledge base regarding publically voluntary instruments capable of supporting organisations in developing improvements in environmental management. The multifaceted nature of the organisations seeking certification mean a generic approach to implementation is unlikely to deliver the desired after results or a resource efficient approach. Furthermore, the diversity of opinions recorded in the literature is often based on anecdotal evidence and small scale research projects. There is a lack of verifiable knowledge and understanding of the difficulties and barriers experienced by organisations attempting to secure certification for existing voluntary instruments for environmental management such as ISO 14001. The aim of the Research: ISO 14001 is the fastest growing of the ISO Standards related to Environmental Management Systems; however existing research has been small scale and anecdotal. This research aims to confirm or dispute the present discussions and assumptions surrounding the motivations and barriers to certification to ISO 14001. Through deductive reasoning this research will provide a comprehensive investigation into the barriers and motivations experienced in its implementation. It is proposed that more comprehensive opportunities for organisational categorisation may also be defined. The focus of the research has been to consider: · The potential for integration of these voluntary instruments. · The effects of the detailed requirements of the standard ISO 14001 on its certification and implementation processes. · The perceived and actual barriers to implementation · The opportunities to categorise participating organisations accordingly. An analysis of instruments available to support organisations in improving their environmental management has been undertaken. A complex and diverse array of instruments have been reviewed beyond the most regularly discussed ISO 14001. Considerable overlaps were identified in the requirements of the various instruments, suggesting opportunities for integration and resource efficiencies in implementation which have not previously been investigated. A detailed review of the certification processes of over 850 organisations certified to ISO 14001 was undertaken. This highlighted patterns in the barriers to implementation that have not previously been observed and which, in some cases, contradict existing literature. It has been shown that existing categorisation of originations was often only on the basis of whether an organisation was an SME or NON SME. However, it was proposed that this method lacked discrimination, with SME encompassing 99.8% of private sector businesses in the UK. This research has elicited significant motivations and barriers to EMS implementation and used these to provide an objective basis to categorise organisations. The outcome of this research has been: · A novel assessment of integration opportunities for 13 instruments. · An objective review of the certification and implementation processes for ISO 14001. · The development of taxonomies that encompasses multiple criteria that exhibit significant variability that could provide a method of classification for organisations.