CAPES / As emissões de gases de efeito estufa (GEE) vêm gerando graves mudanças no clima mundial. Uma das soluções propostas para mitigar o problema é a substituição dos combustíveis fósseis por biocombustíveis. A eficácia dessa medida tem sido questionada, tendo em vista as possíveis consequências indiretas da produção agrícola. A Avaliação Consequencial do Ciclo de Vida é um método de avaliação ambiental de produtos que inclui efeitos indiretos. Diante disso, o objetivo do presente trabalho é aplicar o método para obtenção de um inventário do uso agrícola do solo necessário para incrementar a produção de óleo vegetal visando atender a mudança na demanda de biodiesel no Brasil prevista para o período 2010-2030. Das matérias-primas consideradas (soja, amendoim, algodão, dendê, girassol e canola), o estudo mostra que o óleo de dendê é a matéria-prima marginal e apenas 5% da área potencial para plantio de dendê seria utilizada para atender ao incremento na demanda de biodiesel. A área necessária diretamente pelo dendê seria de 2,1 milhões de hectares na região Norte do Brasil. A torta de amêndoa, co-produto dependente do processo multifuncional do dendê, pode substituir o farelo de soja usado como ração, evitando o plantio de 0,6 milhões de hectares de soja. Assim, o inventário final do uso do solo é um incremento 1,5 milhões de hectares para produção agrícola na região Norte do Brasil. Foram desenvolvidos cenários alternativos: produtividade do dendê constante, mudança no horizonte temporal (2010-2020) e mudança na taxa de crescimento do co-produto determinante. Não houve alteração no resultado do estudo para os cenários considerados. / Greenhouse gas emission has several negative consequences on worldwide climate. Biofuels have been considered one of the solutions to mitigate this problem by substitution of fossil fuel. However, indirect effects should be included in order to produce more reliable results in environmental assessment. In this context, Consequential Life Cycle Assessment is a method that can fill this gap. The objective of this work is to use the method to obtain the agricultural land use inventory to meet the biodiesel demand change in Brazil, considering the period 2010-2030. Only the main feedstock were included (soybean, peanut, cottonseed, palm, sunflower and canola). From these, the study found the palm oil as the marginal one. Around 5% of the potential area for palm would be used to meet the biodiesel demand change. The increased area would be 2,1 million hectares in North region of Brazil. The palm meal, which is a dependent co-product from multifunctional process, can substitute soybean meal as animal feed. The substitution avoids 0,6 million hectares of soybean in North region. Finally, the net land use inventory is 1,5 million hectares in North region of Brazil. Three alternative cenarios were developed: palm productivity unchanged, a different time horizon (2010-2020) and a different increasing rate for the determinant co-product. The same result was found for all cenarios.

M.Sc. (Environmental Management) / Any change in land-use goes hand-in-hand with changes in the prevailing ambient conditions such as a change in the prevailing environmental noise and ground vibration levels. This increase may have an impact on the health and well-being of people and may furthermore result in structural damage to houses. The level of exposure will depend on the type of activity, distance from the source and the attitude of the people exposed to the land-change activities. The main objective of this research was to identify, compare and determine what the impact of mine establishment could have on a residential area some 900m from the mine footprint area. The results of the survey would assist management in employing engineering control measures which would control the exposure levels. Mines are generally established in frontier regions where there are already formal and informal residential areas. These residential areas are usually in rural districts with low prevailing ambient noise levels or, if in fact perceptible, insignificant ones at the most. This study dealt with the evaluation of physical aspects such as environmental noise and ground vibration levels and the determination of exposure levels, an issue of environmental impact and of concern to public health. The village which is being exposed to increased noise and ground vibration levels is a formal housing area with infrastructural components such as roads, water and electricity connections. The exposure levels before and during the construction phase gave an indication of the positive or negative exposure levels that the people were enduring during the establishment phase of the mine...

M.A. (Geography) / In the last century, the establishment of protected areas has become an important part of managing South Africa’s wilderness and wildlife. The notion of untouched protected areas is becoming contested in a time when developing nations are seeking to improve quality of life for their citizens. With the promulgation of the NEM: PAA of 2003, resource sharing with local rural communities has become an important policy guideline for protected area management authorities. An example of a protected area where management has sought to facilitate resource access in neighbouring rural communities is Mkuze Game Reserve (MGR), now part of the greater Isimangaliso Wetland Park. This study uses a mixed methods approach to combine local rainfall records, census archives, and remotely sensed data with qualitative interview data in order to investigate spatial, social and quantitative aspects of anthropogenic land-cover change between 1979 and 2008. If the proposed balance between development and conservation is to be achieved in this ecologically diverse locale, a deeper understanding of contextual relationships between human activity and environmental change will be vital. Results showed that while rainfall was cyclic, natural land-cover decreased consistently in densely populated rural areas. In contrast, protected areas such as MGR showed little change in land-cover indicating that human activity and cattle have a significant impact on the land surface in the Mkuze Region. While many local residents in the rural communities living adjacent to MGR recognise their role in the achievement of development-conservation objectives, a history of exclusion from MGR has left a legacy of negative perceptions towards MGR in these communities. In order to mitigate natural land-cover loss, local communities must have positive perceptions about MGR and become involved in its management. Useful inferences have been made from the results regarding the management of human population and activities around the borders of protected areas in South Africa.

Rural farmers in Zimbabwe have been grappling with various changes and challenges occurring in the country since the early 1990s. Amongst these, climate variability has emerged as one significant aspect. It has introduced new challenges for these farmers who are already facing various difficulties in maintaining their insecure livelihoods. Yet, current adaptation theories and inquiries have failed to sufficiently account for and analyse the capacity of these farmers to adequately respond to changing climatic conditions. In this respect, a number of studies have been heavily embedded in deterministic concepts that regard rural farmers as passive victims who play only a minor part in decisions and actions that affect their own livelihoods and well-being. Similarly, although some studies have acknowledged farmers’ capacity to adapt and build elements of resilience, they have not adequately shown how farmers interpret changes in climate and the structures, processes and conditions underpinning adaptation. Following that, my study uses a case study of a rural community in a semi-arid region of Mutoko district in eastern Zimbabwe and Margaret Archer’s sociological theory to understand and analyse how farmers problematise climate variability and respond to it. The study utilises a qualitative approach to divulge the subtleties on how rural people interpret processes of change and adapt to such changes. The thesis found that farmers are encountering increasingly unpredictable and unreliable rainfall patterns as well as shifting temperature conditions which are inducing labyrinthian livelihoods conundrums. However, these climatic shifts are not being experienced in a discrete manner hence farmers are also discontented with the obtaining socio-economic circumstances in the country. Simultaneously, whilst farmers in large part conceived changes in rainfall and temperature to be caused by natural shifts in climate, they also ascribed them to cultural and religious facets. Importantly, the thesis reveals considerable resourcefulness by farmers in the face of nascent changes in climate variability. Farmers have therefore constructed versatile coping and adaptive strategies. What is crucial to mention here is that climatic and non-climatic challenges are negotiated concurrently. Therein, farmers are adapting to climate variability and at the same time navigating difficult socio-economic landscapes. All the same, the process of adaptation is ostensibly not straightforward but complex. As it evolves, farmers find themselves facing numerous constraining structures and processes. Nonetheless, farmers in this study are able to circumvent the constraints presented to them and at the same time activate the corresponding enabling structures, processes and conditions.

CIDA, the leading Canadian agency in the area of international assistance, is responsible for approximately 78% of the country's aid budget. The Agency's mandate to "support sustainable development in developing countries, in order to reduce poverty and contribute to a more secure, equitable, and prosperous world" indicates that the Agency is concerned with social and cultural factors. However, CIDA does not have any specific mechanisms or tools such as SIA to help achieve its social and cultural sustainability goals. The objectives of this thesis were: a) to develop an analytical framework for undertaking and analysing SIA, and b) to compare CIDA's SIA-related strategies, procedures and mechanisms as they stand now to what is stated in the literature, so as to indicate how and when the Agency uses them, and also to assess their quality and effectiveness. The overarching question that constituted the pillar of this thesis was a two-pronged question: Do CIDA's strategies, procedures and mechanisms equal SIA without being SIA? And are those strategies, procedures and mechanisms adequate to cover issues that are normally dealt with through traditional SIA? This question was answered through 1) the application of the analytical framework on two proposals submitted to CIDA, and 2) an analysis of CIDA's SIA-related procedures based on the framework, key informant interviews, and a review of the literature on the Agency's policies, guidelines, and practices. Based on the literature review, the application of the analytical framework, and on the comments of the informants, the need for an SIA-type procedure for assessing social and cultural effects and impacts for CIDA funding is suggested. Such a practice might very well clarify the Agency's requirements in relation to the consideration of social and cultural factors in the development of projects. Also, it is important to stress that the process should not be reduced to a bureaucratic procedure blindly applied. CIDA could go without formulating a distinct protocol for SIA, as it already has several project planning tools and procedures that could lend themselves very well to the purpose of SIA. Indeed, the Agency's results-based management (RBM) framework could be altered so as to make it more holistic in that it would take into consideration both intended and unintended effects and impacts, and would better take into account social and cultural factors. The application of the logical framework analysis (LFA) can also be expanded to achieve similar goals. Further, the Agency could focus on developing a more integrated and comprehensive type of impact assessment that would touch on all the required types of assessments. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Accounting degree, Faculty of Accounting and Informatics, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa. Durban. South Africa, 2016. / A large number of manufacturing companies adopt the use of the traditional accounting method in their operations. This technique fails to reflect a detailed report of all material losses incurred in their production processes. Worthy of note, is that losses/waste are considered as inefficiencies in manufacturing operations and viewed as a costly venture to the sustainability of the company. This research, therefore, through a case study analysis, examined the efficient/inefficient flow of resources in the production process of an alcoholic beverage company in the Durban metropolis. The study was carried out in order to determine the impact of packaging waste cost in an alcoholic beverage company using the material flow cost accounting technique. Measurements included the input of packaging materials against its output, while giving consideration to waste incurred as losses. The Material Flow Cost Accounting (MFCA) technique, an environmental management accounting tool developed for measuring the flows and stocks of materials of a company and production process in both physical and monetary units, was used to measure the costs of waste on two production lines. MFCA was used to trace all material inputs and categorize them as product or non-product output. MFCA is used to classify the relevant material flows as cost collectors, thereby allocating the costs of the company’s production operations and flows. Different packaging materials that constitute waste on the lines were analyzed using the mixed method approach, which includes observation, questionnaire administration, and analysis of six months production report. Two production lines were considered for sampling, and recommendations were given based on the data analyzed using the SPSS package. The MFCA technique revealed that losses on both production lines were understated, and that, the bottling plant was losing a sizeable amount of monetary value of packaging materials to waste. The MFCA technique also revealed that the traditional costing technique is unable to provide adequate information managers require for strategic cost decision making. MFCA is therefore recommended to assist managers improve production line efficiency and cost savings via accurate waste costing and reduction for corporate sustainability. / M

Chemical (gaseous) emissions from wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) are perceived as odour and can generate undesirable health reactions. These could affect the quality of life to those regularly albeit intermittently exposed, although regular exposure may result in tolerance and loss of recognition of the odour. Consequently, research is necessary to establish the role of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in ensuring that facilities such as WWTP do not pose a threat to local communities, particularly in relation to housing developments for poor communities. The aim of this study was to investigate if the EIA regulations were effectively implemented before building of the Residential Development Proiect (RDP) houses at KwaMathukuza, in Newcastle South Africa. Furthermore, the study intended to determine the impact the (WWTP) has on the health of people who reside close to the site and to establish if the families staying close to the WWTP have any common ailments such as handicapped babies, early deaths within families. Findings would also indicate if RDP houses should be built in close proximity to such sites. Data was collected through a survey of 85 residents living within five kilometers and ten residing beyond five kilometers from the WWTP. The participants were selected randomly. Municipality employees who worked with the WWTP were also sampled together with healthcare givers. Data included information about health of the community, their perception of the gases released from the WWTP as well as EIA meetings and processes related to the construction of the RDP houses. The outcome of this study revealed that EIA regulations were not adequately implemented and that this residential site was unsuitable for the construction of RDP houses. It emerged that the residence regularly experience unpleasant odours released from the WWTP. These could be associated with ill-health of the residents as well as v degradation the environment in general. The study also found that the effect of the WWTP affects even those communities who reside beyond five kilometers from the WWTP. The researcher argues for more stringent mechanisms to ensure that EIA regulations are properly implemented to prevent adverse effects on the communities. / Environmental Sciences / M. Sc. (Environmental Management)

MSc (Botany) / Department of Botany

MESMEG / Department of Mining and Environmental Geology / See the attached abstract below

Purpose - This bachelor thesis compares high-speed rail (HSR) transport with air transport. The investigation considers physical fundamentals, energy consumption, environmental impact, infrastructure and investment, market situations, passenger's selection criteria to choose transportation options, and overall economics. --- Methodology - The thesis combines an investigation of physical principles with a literature review. --- Findings - Steel wheels on steel rails show by far less rolling resistance to support the train's weight than drag due to lift (induced drag) to support the aircraft's weight. This leads to less energy consumption. HSR trains use electricity from an overhead line. Hence, the environmental impact of HSR also depends much on how the electricity is produced. Airplanes only need an air traffic control environment to connect airports. In contrast, HSR needs infrastructure to connect stations. The amount of necessary infrastructure depends on the geological conditions. For example, crossing mountains means high investment. Longer passages over water are infeasible for HSR. High-speed rail is superior to air transport when connecting megacities because the trains have higher transport capacity, offer higher service frequencies and mission reliability, shorter total travel time, shorter access time to stations, shorter unproductive waiting time in stations and potentially lower travel costs. HSR is a strong competitor to airline services and has replaced some short range flights. A comparison of HSR in different world regions shows differences in the market situation and in passenger's selection criteria for transportation options. --- Research limitations - The potential of high-speed rail was investigated mainly on busy routes with high service frequencies. A comprehensive network comparison between high-speed trains and airplanes was not done and could lead to somewhat different results. --- Practical implications - The report tries to contribute arguments to the discussion about alternatives to air travel. --- Social implications - With more knowledge people can make an educated choice between transport options, can vote with their feet, and can take a firm position in the public discussion. --- Originality/value - A general comparison of HSR and air transport from physical fundamentals to economics seemed to be missing.