This thesis is an exploration of a modified club goods approach to wetland conservation in southern Ontario as an alternative to the current policy approach. As the regulatory framework for wetland conservation continues to develop, however, so does an emerging resistance to participate in government conservation programs by private rural landowners protesting regulatory erosion of citizen rights in private land ownership. The modified club goods approach was evaluated as a fair and effective conservation method through a multiple-case study that explored six non-governmental organizations applying a modified club goods conservation model. As non-governmental organizations broaden their economic base to increase their scope of operations, they are susceptible to influence from changing sources of revenue. They must remain accountable and transparent to members and donors in order to receive their continued financial support, rather than depending on government funds which leads to an organization’s evolution away from the modified model. / The intention of this thesis is not to suggest that the Ontario government should not take part in wetland conservation. On the contrary, it is there duty to be active stakeholders that ensure the province's wetlands are managed fairly and effectively. This thesis explores a modified club goods approach as an alternative approach which the government should support as mediator, not as leader nor as spectator. That said, provincial wetland policy should be developed as a tool for guiding best management and conservation practices of wetlands, and to enhance the provision of environmental goods and services from wetlands. / Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the University of Guelph Food, Agriculture and Resource Economics Department.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / O tema do estudo é sobre o ambiente, abordado do ponto de vista mais social, com um foco geral no que se convencionou chamar de bens da natureza. É premissa adotada na dissertação de que a natureza só pode ser medida como bem quando tiver categorias de valoração. Estas categorias só ocorrem no nosso sistema político e mudam com o tempo, mudando também as conceituações, por exemplo, de ambiente, um termo forte que permeia por toda a dissertação. As primeiras questões gerais abordadas aqui são justamente relacionadas a esta palavra, ambiente, a qual vem tomando vários enfoques nos últimos anos, devido às necessidades de os sistemas políticos incluírem nas suas agendas as questões para regularem o uso dos chamados bens da natureza. Por que isso ocorreu no nosso país? Como, no geral, um sistema político se vê forçado a incluir na sua agenda programas que normalmente não teriam aquela atenção? Estas perguntas compõem a visão geral do problema do estudo que desenvolvi. Adotei na dissertação duas vertentes para responder a estas perguntas: uma visão normativa, que apresenta o problema do ponto de vista fiscal, e uma visão mais humanista, do ponto de vista de o ambiente ser olhado sob o ponto de vista das relações homem-natureza. As hipóteses adotadas, no sentido de respostas provisórias às questões, foram; i) na ausência de conceituações específicas, o sistema lançou mão de conceitos pré-existentes sobre bens econômicos, públicos e privados, ii) do ponto de vista humanístico, que inclui no centro as relações homem-natureza, é difícil categorizar natureza como bem no sentido econômico, iii) o sistema político dominante usa seu arsenal ideológico para estabelecer o que chamou de serviços ambientais, mas há vários questionamentos nesta aproximação. As verificações das hipóteses foram feitas através da literatura vigente e relatos publicados utilizados como exemplos, portanto não há verificações diretas, são eneralizações interpretativas com base na história e relatos. Nos item Resultados são apresentadas as conceituações envolvendo as questões sob o ponto de vista normativo e no item Discussão os mesmos aspectos normativos são apresentados do ponto de vista analítico, estabelecendo com mais detalhes as contradições. São ainda apresentados brevemente na Discussão como estas questões estão envolvidas em Roraima e apresentadas algumas sugestões para abordagem deste tema na região. / The subject of the study is the environment, approached more from the social point of view, with one general focus conventionally called goods of the nature. The adopted premise is that nature can only be measured as good when implicit values categories. These categories only occur in our political system and change through time, also changing the concepts, for example, the environment, a strong word that passes all over this work. The first questions are exactly those ones related to this word, environment, which has taking various focuses in the last years, due to the necessity of the political systems include in their agendas questions directed to regulate the uses of the so called goods of the environment. Why this occurred in our country? Why, in general, a political system is forced to include in their agenda programs that normally would have no attention? These questions compose a general vision of the study problem I did.I adopted in the work two points in order to answer these questions: on normative vision, which presents the problem from the oversight point of view, and a more humanistic vision looked through the eyes of the man-nature relationships. The adopted hypotheses, in the sense of provisory answers to the questions, were: i) in the absence of specific concepts, the system used the already existing concepts of economic goods, public and private, ii) from the humanistic point of view, which includes in its center the relations man-nature, it is difficult categorize the nature as a good in the economic sense, iii) the dominant political system use its ideological armory in order to establish the so called environmental services, but there are various questions related to this approach. I verified the adopted hypothesis through the current literature and published reports as examples; therefore I did not direct verifications, but general interpretations with basis in history and reports. In Results it is presented the concepts involving the questions under the normative points of view and in Discussion the same normative aspects are presented under the analytic view, establishing the contradictions with more details. It is briefly presented in the Discussion how these questions are involved in Roraima and presented some suggestions of how to approach this theme in the region.

The environmental goods and services cannot be valued through markets economically defined. Therefore, it has been necessary to implement methodologies such as contingent valuation for this purpose. This method was proposed 66 years ago and it has been widely used in different fields such as conservation of protected areas. The aim of this article is to provide a theoretical review of the contingent valuation method and to show experiences of its application in the assessment of Protected Areas in Latin America. In the sixties and seventies contingent valuation began to acquire greater importance for estimates of non-use values. Then, there was a cross-disciplinary integration of elements to strengthen the development of surveys and in the nineties appeared a criticism of its validity .Moreover, contingent valuation studies in Latin American countries have had positive results in determining the willingness to pay for recreational value, environmental services value, social benefits and public management of protected areas. / Los bienes y servicios ambientales no pueden ser valorados económicamente a través de mercados definidos, por lo que ha sido necesario la implementación de metodologías como la valoración contingente para dicho fin. Este método fue planteado hace 66 años y desde entonces ha sido ampliamente empleado en diversos campos como la conservación de áreas protegidas. El presente artículo hace una revisión teórica del método de valoración contingente y de las experiencias de su aplicación en la valoración de áreas protegidas en América Latina.En los años sesenta y setenta la valoración contingente comenzó a adquirir más importancia para la estimaciones de valores de no uso; posteriormente hubo una integración de elementos transdisciplinares para fortalecer la elaboración de encuestas y en los años noventa surgieron críticas sobre su validez. Asimismo, los estudios de valoración contingente en países latinoamericanos han tenido resultados positivos en la determinación de la disposición a pagar por aspectos como valor recreativo, valor de servicios ambientales, beneficios sociales y gestión pública de espacios protegidos.

The aim of this diploma thesis is the estimation of the influence of green areas on real estate prices in Bratislava, SK. Being not a public good green areas are not market valuated which makes the decision about its size and placement in urban areas problematic. This thesis was written with an aim to evaluate the benefit of greenery and help future decision making concerning green urban areas in Bratislava. Theoretical part points out current situation of green urban areas in Bratislava and real estate market development. It also demonstrates some of the benefits coming from urban greenery and defines hedonic pricing method. Practical part is focused on greenery value estimation using HPM. It analyzes geografical data altogether with real estate data and based on five regression models using various groups of environmental variables estimates the impact of different types of greenery on the real estate prices in Bratislava.

<p>In most business sectors environmental programs focus on direct, production-related environmental impacts. The design and development of products with reduced environmental impact is considered more difficult. The opposite applies in the environmental technology sector. The business model of environmental technology companies focuses on delivering solutions that contribute to improving the environmental performance of their customers. Products and services delivered by this sector have prominent environmental profiles. However, companies in this sector may not necessarily set and implement environmental goals for their own activities and manufacturing processes, and may not clearly distinguish between production and product related environmental aspects.</p><p>This thesis presents results of an online survey of environmental technology companies listed by the Swedish Environmental Technology Council (Swentec). The survey found that depending on the subsector, only between 21% and 45% of companies provide information about their environmental work on their website.</p><p>Environmental impacts of a company may be product and/or production related. The survey found that these dimensions are treated differently, and are not always clearly differentiated in environmental tools and guidelines, such as the ISO 14000 series, the Reporting Guidelines for UK Business, the GRI and The Swedish Annual Accounts (ÅRL). There are also differences in the ways that information about production and product related environmental impacts are considered within the environmental technology industry. Some companies clearly distinguish between product and activity related environmental issues, while others are unclear about the distinction between their products and their activities in environmental policies and management. While some companies in the sector limit the environmental information they disseminate to the environmental benefits of their products, others explicitly articulate that the predominantly product related environmental profiles in the sector drive them to additionally minimise environmental impacts of their own activities.</p><p>This thesis proposes environmental aspects of products and production as bases for corporate environmental profiles, corporate greening, and for defining ‘green’ and ‘green-green’ business, and concludes that companies within the environmental industry should be expected to be green-green business. This thesis concludes that companies within the environmental technology sector should increase their use of both production and product related environmental profile information in their presentations on their own websites and at platforms such as Swentec. Furthermore, the thesis shows that the use of the term ‘process’ within environmental technology sector to describe both the companies’ own operations and their products can create ambiguities in understanding. Companies that deliver ‘processes’ as products should avoid ambiguity by describing their own operations with terms such as ‘production processes’, ‘production’, ‘manufacturing process’, ‘operation’ or ‘activity’.</p> / <p>Ett företags miljöpåverkan kan vara kopplad till tillverkningsprocesser och till produkter. Miljöprogram inom de flesta industrisektorer är inriktade på direkta, produktionsrelaterade miljöaspekter. Däremot anses design och utveckling av produkter med minskad miljöpåverkan svårare. Inom miljötekniksektorn gäller det motsatta. Miljöteknikföretag erbjuder produkter och tjänster med framträdande miljöprofil och levererar lösningar som bidrar till förbättrad miljöprestanda hos deras kunder. Det betyder inte nödvändigtvis att dessa företag arbetar med miljömässiga mål för egna aktiviteter och tillverkningsprocesser, dvs. att dessa företag gör distinktion mellan tillverknings- och produktrelaterade miljöaspekter.</p><p> </p><p>Det övergripande syftet med avhandlingen är att öka förståelse av och insikt i miljöengagemang och miljöprofil inom miljöteknikföretag. Studien innehåller en onlineundersökning av miljöarbetet inom företag som är listade av Sveriges miljöteknikråd, Swentec i dess nätverk för den svenska miljöteknik­ sektorn. Studien visar att, beroende på undersektor, mellan 21 % och 45 % av företagen i undersökta miljöteknikområden har lagt ut information om sitt miljöarbete på företagets hemsida. Information om produktions- och produktrelaterade miljöfrågor varierar. Det finns företag som tydligt skiljer mellan produktorienterade miljöfrågor och miljöfrågor som berör deras tillverkningsprocesser och aktiviteter. Andra företag gör ingen tydlig åtskillnad mellan dessa frågor i sina miljöpolicydokument och miljöprogram. Vissa företag i branschen begränsar sin miljöinformation till miljömässiga fördelar med deras produkter. Det finns dock företag som tydligt uttalar att sektorns produktrelaterade miljöprofil är en drivkraft för att minimera miljöpåverkan från sin egen verksamhet.</p><p>I studien framkommer också att produktions- och produktrelaterade miljöaspekter behandlas på olika sätt, och är inte alltid tydligt differentierade i olika miljöverktyg och riktlinjer, som i ISO 14000 serien, Rapporteringsriktlinjer för UK Business, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) och i den svenska årsredovisningslagen (ÅRL).</p><p> </p><p>Produktions- och produktrelaterade miljöaspekter föreslås som dimensioner i ett företags miljöprofil och i beskrivning av företagets miljövänlighet. Det samma gäller som grund för definition av ’gröna’ och ’grön-gröna’ företag. En viktig ståndpunkt i denna avhandling är att företag inom miljötekniksektorn bör vara ’grön-gröna’ företag och att dessa företag bör öka användningen av informationen om produktions- och produktrelaterad miljöprofil, både på sina egna hemsidor och i sina presentationer inom nätverk som Swentec. Dessutom visar studien att användningen av begreppet "process" inom miljöteknikföretag för såväl den egna verksamheten som för sina produkter i vissa fall är otydlig. För att undvika denna oklarhet bör företag med ’processer’ som egna produkter, beskriva företagens egna verksamheter med begrepp som ’produktionsprocess’, ’produktion’, ’tillverkningsprocess’, ’aktiviteter’ eller liknande.</p>

In most business sectors environmental programs focus on direct, production-related environmental impacts. The design and development of products with reduced environmental impact is considered more difficult. The opposite applies in the environmental technology sector. The business model of environmental technology companies focuses on delivering solutions that contribute to improving the environmental performance of their customers. Products and services delivered by this sector have prominent environmental profiles. However, companies in this sector may not necessarily set and implement environmental goals for their own activities and manufacturing processes, and may not clearly distinguish between production and product related environmental aspects. This thesis presents results of an online survey of environmental technology companies listed by the Swedish Environmental Technology Council (Swentec). The survey found that depending on the subsector, only between 21% and 45% of companies provide information about their environmental work on their website. Environmental impacts of a company may be product and/or production related. The survey found that these dimensions are treated differently, and are not always clearly differentiated in environmental tools and guidelines, such as the ISO 14000 series, the Reporting Guidelines for UK Business, the GRI and The Swedish Annual Accounts (ÅRL). There are also differences in the ways that information about production and product related environmental impacts are considered within the environmental technology industry. Some companies clearly distinguish between product and activity related environmental issues, while others are unclear about the distinction between their products and their activities in environmental policies and management. While some companies in the sector limit the environmental information they disseminate to the environmental benefits of their products, others explicitly articulate that the predominantly product related environmental profiles in the sector drive them to additionally minimise environmental impacts of their own activities. This thesis proposes environmental aspects of products and production as bases for corporate environmental profiles, corporate greening, and for defining ‘green’ and ‘green-green’ business, and concludes that companies within the environmental industry should be expected to be green-green business. This thesis concludes that companies within the environmental technology sector should increase their use of both production and product related environmental profile information in their presentations on their own websites and at platforms such as Swentec. Furthermore, the thesis shows that the use of the term ‘process’ within environmental technology sector to describe both the companies’ own operations and their products can create ambiguities in understanding. Companies that deliver ‘processes’ as products should avoid ambiguity by describing their own operations with terms such as ‘production processes’, ‘production’, ‘manufacturing process’, ‘operation’ or ‘activity’. / Ett företags miljöpåverkan kan vara kopplad till tillverkningsprocesser och till produkter. Miljöprogram inom de flesta industrisektorer är inriktade på direkta, produktionsrelaterade miljöaspekter. Däremot anses design och utveckling av produkter med minskad miljöpåverkan svårare. Inom miljötekniksektorn gäller det motsatta. Miljöteknikföretag erbjuder produkter och tjänster med framträdande miljöprofil och levererar lösningar som bidrar till förbättrad miljöprestanda hos deras kunder. Det betyder inte nödvändigtvis att dessa företag arbetar med miljömässiga mål för egna aktiviteter och tillverkningsprocesser, dvs. att dessa företag gör distinktion mellan tillverknings- och produktrelaterade miljöaspekter.   Det övergripande syftet med avhandlingen är att öka förståelse av och insikt i miljöengagemang och miljöprofil inom miljöteknikföretag. Studien innehåller en onlineundersökning av miljöarbetet inom företag som är listade av Sveriges miljöteknikråd, Swentec i dess nätverk för den svenska miljöteknik­ sektorn. Studien visar att, beroende på undersektor, mellan 21 % och 45 % av företagen i undersökta miljöteknikområden har lagt ut information om sitt miljöarbete på företagets hemsida. Information om produktions- och produktrelaterade miljöfrågor varierar. Det finns företag som tydligt skiljer mellan produktorienterade miljöfrågor och miljöfrågor som berör deras tillverkningsprocesser och aktiviteter. Andra företag gör ingen tydlig åtskillnad mellan dessa frågor i sina miljöpolicydokument och miljöprogram. Vissa företag i branschen begränsar sin miljöinformation till miljömässiga fördelar med deras produkter. Det finns dock företag som tydligt uttalar att sektorns produktrelaterade miljöprofil är en drivkraft för att minimera miljöpåverkan från sin egen verksamhet. I studien framkommer också att produktions- och produktrelaterade miljöaspekter behandlas på olika sätt, och är inte alltid tydligt differentierade i olika miljöverktyg och riktlinjer, som i ISO 14000 serien, Rapporteringsriktlinjer för UK Business, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) och i den svenska årsredovisningslagen (ÅRL).   Produktions- och produktrelaterade miljöaspekter föreslås som dimensioner i ett företags miljöprofil och i beskrivning av företagets miljövänlighet. Det samma gäller som grund för definition av ’gröna’ och ’grön-gröna’ företag. En viktig ståndpunkt i denna avhandling är att företag inom miljötekniksektorn bör vara ’grön-gröna’ företag och att dessa företag bör öka användningen av informationen om produktions- och produktrelaterad miljöprofil, både på sina egna hemsidor och i sina presentationer inom nätverk som Swentec. Dessutom visar studien att användningen av begreppet "process" inom miljöteknikföretag för såväl den egna verksamheten som för sina produkter i vissa fall är otydlig. För att undvika denna oklarhet bör företag med ’processer’ som egna produkter, beskriva företagens egna verksamheter med begrepp som ’produktionsprocess’, ’produktion’, ’tillverkningsprocess’, ’aktiviteter’ eller liknande.

Les atteintes à l'environnement ont toujours été prises en compte sous le prisme des préjudices anthropocentriques, c'est-à-dire ceux qui affectent l'homme et ses biens. De nos jours sous l'impulsion d'une éthique écologique, défendue par les tenants de la conception écocentrique qui prônent la responsabilité de l'Homme envers les biens environnementaux, une grande partie de la doctrine considère les atteintes à l'environnement comme un préjudice écologique pur. Cette notion de préjudice écologique pur peut se définir comme la conséquence dommageable d'une atteinte au patrimoine commun environnemental, d'un certain seuil de gravité et découlant d'un fait imputable à l'homme. La spécificité des caractères du préjudice écologique pur fait que sa reconnaissance et sa réparation sont difficilement appréhendées par le droit civil de la responsabilité environnementale. La réparation du préjudice écologique pur est prise en compte, au niveau européen, par la directive du 21 avril 2004, qui a crée un mécanisme novateur de responsabilité environnementale, transposée en France par la loi du 1er août 2008 qui instaure une police administrative de la prévention et de la réparation des dommages à l'environnement. Cependant, le juge judiciaire sensible aux atteintes écologiques, tente toujours de réparer le préjudice écologique pur sur le fondement du droit commun de la responsabilité civile, dont les règles sont inadaptées à la spécificité de ce préjudice. La prise en compte de l'environnement comme patrimoine commun de l'humanité, l'apport du droit subjectif et fondamental à l'environnement, l'adaptation du régime de la responsabilité civile par la mise en place d'une action environnementale de groupe et l'instauration des dommages-intérêts punitifs, permettent de surpasser les exigences d'un préjudice personnel, certain et direct et de mieux réparer le préjudice écologique pur, par le droit commun de la responsabilité civile. / Environmental damage has always been taken into account from the perspective of anthropocentric damage, that is, damage that affects humans and goods. Today, driven by the ecological ethics defended by the advocates for an ecocentric design for Man's responsibility to environmental goods, most of the doctrine considers environmental damage as purely ecological damage. This concept of purely ecological damage can be defined as the wrongful consequence of damage to a common environmental heritage, a certain threshold of severity and deriving from an act attributable to man. The specificity of the nature of purely ecological damage means that its recognition and compensation are understood with difficulty in environmental responsibility law. Compensation for purely ecological damage is taken into account, at the European level, by the directive of 21 April 2004, which set up an innovative mechanism for environmental responsibility, transposed into France by the law of 01 August 2008, creating an administrative policy for the prevention of, and compensation for, damage to the environment. However, a judge sensitive to ecological damage always tries to compensate for the purely ecological damage on the common law principle of civil responsibility, the rules of which are ill-adapted to the specificity of this type of damage. Taking the environment into account as humanity's common heritage, the input of subjective and fundamental law on the environment, adapting the civil responsibility regime through implementation of a group environmental action and establishing punitive damage compensation all make it possible to go beyond the requirements of certain, direct and personal damages, and to better repair purely ecological damage through common law in civil responsibility.

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