The objective of this thesis is to identify key factors that influence a country to ratify the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Treaty. The POPs treaty seeks to eliminate or reduce the emissions of 12 POPs. I will examine the links between the countries that have ratified the POPs treaty in an effort to identify variables that may have influenced a country's decision to ratify the treaty. For each of the 165 nations in my dataset, I will examine economic, social, geographic, health, and political indicators and history of malaria and determine if a relationship exists between these variables and treaty ratification. Results indicate that a history of malaria, political, economic, and geographic indicators are significantly related to a nation's decision to ratify the treaty. Specifically, level of democracy, history of malaria, and location in Asia are deemed to be significantly correlated with treaty ratification, while location in Oceania and GDP per capita are regarded as extremely significantly correlated to treaty ratification. Of these five variables, only a history of malaria is inversely related to treaty ratification. This finding suggests that countries with a history of malaria are less likely to ratify the POPs treaty than countries that do not have a history of malaria. The remaining four variables are positively related to treaty ratification which suggests that as GDP per capita or level of democracy increases, the tendency of a nation to ratify the treaty also increases. Location in Oceania and Asia also tend to influences a nation's decision to ratify the treaty.

In response to increased annual wildfire destruction and insufficient wildfire mitigation approaches from the federal government, the state of California adopted Public Resources Code Sections 4290 and 4291 in the year 1991. These laws force the removal of fire-causing agents from public and private areas, and establish what is known as defensible space. Defensible space is defined in Section 4291 as the area within the perimeter of a parcel, development, neighborhood, or community where basic wildland fire protection practices and measures are implemented, providing the key point of defense from an approaching wildfire or escaping structure fire. One method to successfully establish these areas of defensible space is by educating the public about the dangers, causes, and fuel sources of wildfires. County-level public outreach programs known as Fire Safe Councils encourage cooperation within the public sector in regards to state wildfire legislation by publishing fire information and risk-related maps and by conducting prescribed burns which alleviate dead, fire-fueling debris in forests. Local Council chapters are composed of over sixty public and private organizations in and beyond California. Forty-eight of Californias fifty-eight counties have at least one Fire Safe Council. Ten have none. In an attempt to gain insight into what accounts for variation, a total of twelve independent variables concerning socioeconomics and wildfire hazard rating (risk) were constructed to represent each county. Data was collected from various sources and inputted into the statistical modeling program, SPSS, for testing. Out of the five categories of independent variables; population, economic, education, civic participation, and hazard rating, only variables within the population and economic categories were determined to have any significant associations with decisions to establish Fire Safe Councils. The results of this study thereby set the stage for changes to be made in current wildfire mitigation, namely, a reevaluation of hazard models and Sections 4290 and 4291.

The EPA has classified Baton Rouge as a non-attainment area for ozone pollution for many years. Since then Photochemical Assessment Monitoring Stations (PAMS) and other ozone monitoring stations around the metropolitan area have monitored for ozone, NOx, and more than 50 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which are considered precursors to ozone pollution. Traditionally, automobile engines and industrial plants and refineries have been blamed as major point sources for VOC emissions and the ozone pollution they cause. This research focuses on another possible point source for failing ozone levels at one of the ozone monitoring stations located on the campus of Louisiana State University. Gas Chromatograph and Mass Spectrometer analyses of newly poured asphalt surfaces near the monitoring station revealed a silicone marker compound that can be used to trace highly reactive VOCs that react almost instantly when exposed to sunlight. This marker and several species of alkenes boil out of new asphalt when heated to construction temperatures and in harsh environmental conditions. Enough of these chemicals are released to perhaps significantly effect the production of ozone in the lower atmosphere.

Nutria (Mayocastor) were first introduced to Louisiana in 1938. With few natural predators and high prolific productivity, they became well established in the surrounding coastal marsh within a few years. Prior to 1980s, as a result of high demand for nutria products from European countries, harvest pressure was sufficient to keep the population in check with their wetlands capacity. By the mid-1980s, however, prices had fallen sharply, culminating in declining annual harvests and an increasing population. Because of their feeding habits, the increased nutria population has resulted in a substantial amount of wetland degradation. In this thesis, a long-run bioeconomic supply model for nutria is developed and the expected harvest associated with different bounties is incorporated into a wetland-loss model to investigate the extent to which alternative bounties lessen wetland degradation. With respect to the bioeconomic supply model, harvest per hectare is specified as a function of the harvested price per pelt, opportunity costs of the trapper, and the variables that impact the carrying capacity (a weather severity index and the alligator population density). Results suggest that MSY is achieved at a real price (based on 2000 Implicit Price Deflator) of approximately $17 and that MSY is equal to 1.5 million pelts when all explanatory variables, other than price, are held at their respective means. The signs of the coefficients of the explanatory variables are consistent with a priori expectations. As the alligator population density increases, long-run nutria harvest is expected to decline. Similarly, lower opportunity costs associated with the trappers time (measured via an increase in the unemployment rate) was found to result in an increase in long-run harvest. Based on incorporation of the predicted harvests associated with various bounties into the simulation model (i.e., a wetland-loss model), results suggest that wetland degradation is lessened in response to an increasing bounty. However, the results are highly sensitive to changes in the level of some parameters in the wetland-loss model such as the biomass destroyed-to-consumed ratio, the critical density, and time-to-maturity. Finally, a benefit cost analysis implies that the benefits associated with the various bounties outweigh the costs.

<br>The historical loss and continued threat of loss of Louisiana wetlands is a major environmental concern for the United States and the world. In 1971, the Ramsar Convention, an international environmental treaty was ratified to specifically address conservation planning and land use management issues involving wetlands of the world. Ramsar provides an international designation award called, the Wetlands of International Importance List, which formally acknowledges globally important wetland landscapes. Ramsar outlines specific criterion nominated wetland sites must possess for consideration of this listing.<br> <br>The Southwest Louisiana National Wildlife Refuge Complex is an excellent candidate for nomination to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance List. The Complex is comprised of Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge, Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge and Sabine National Wildlife Refuge located within the coastal zone of Cameron Parish, Louisiana. The area, some of the world's most valuable salt, brackish and freshwater wetlands meets the criterion required to be listed with Ramsar.<br> <br>The Complex contains a biologically diverse population of waterfowl, migratory birds, anadromous and endemic fish, shrimp, crabs and native plants, trees and wetland grasses. These landscapes also offer spawning and nesting habitat and protection to endangered and threatened birds, fish, tortoise, mammals and reptiles. As excellent representations of natural wetland ecosystems, this cluster of coastal landscapes merit special attention in order to further protect, manage, conserve and use wisely the rich natural resources associated with the region.<br> <br>Recently, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced plans to formulate a 15 year Comprehensive Management Plan for the Complex. Nomination of the Complex to the Ramsar list would not only augment this management plan, but also complement both the use mission of Ramsar and the state's policy of economic development marketing of territorial wetland landscapes for ecotourism opportunities. Justification of this nomination is demonstrated in this thesis project by listing and meeting the criterion set forth by the Ramsar Convention.<br>

This ethnographic study explores the risk perceptions of a small unincorporated coastal community in southeastern Louisiana. This community has experienced social and environmental change due to events including tropical storms and hurricanes, erosion, subsidence, oil and gas activities, development, and the impact of global seafood markets. Many global risk perception studies have focused on the perception of risk to human health and property connected with natural and technological disasters, but few have explored the issue of minorities and small at-risk communities. To explore this theoretical and methodological gap, this study uses a variety of qualitative ethnographic methods to examine a small at-risk community of minorities. The central question of this research asks: Why does a marginalized community with few resources choose to stay in an area that they perceive to be burdened with environmental and social threats? Findings suggest that geographical displacement is a greater risk than living in an area burdened with continual environmental and social threats. As Meda states: if we follow the same traditional ways of evacuating for a storm that our fathers and grandfathers did, we pack up and go to our boats. Traditionally thats what we do, thats what we know, thats how we keep ourselves safe. But the land has changedthe land standing between us and the storms has diminished because of erosion, subsidence, and all of these other things that came into play. Now when storms come, we get flooded with greater frequency and with higher tides and the porosity of the currents that come through, its stronger and strongerso, those safe harbors will no longer be safe harbors and our traditional ways of evacuating, we will have to find somewhere else to go. Because they will no longer be able to sustain us and its something that we know and its something that we are going to have to face, but because of who we are and because ofour ties to the communitylife at all costs is better than anything that I can think of. But we do stay and we fight for what we have and risk is part of it.

The rapid growth of world population has resulted in significantly increased global water demand. According to a recent report on limited water supply, conservation techniques and water use policies are needed to preserve water resources. Worldwide agriculture is the largest consumer of water, particularly for growing rice. Water use for rice production was chosen because rice will continue to be a staple crop for the majority of the worlds population and because of its pervasive use of water. Hence, this thesis was designed to investigate water conservation possibilities for rice production in two water management regimes: alternate flooding and drying, and continuous flooding (the latter is the traditional water management technique in irrigated rice culture). The alternate flooding and drying treatment reduced water use by 13-29 percent and increased rice grain yield by 33-36 percent. Results demonstrate that there is great potential to increase water use efficiency in wetland rice culture without reducing rice grain yield. Moreover, the results can be used to strengthen government water use policies in irrigated rice farming systems.

The number of children born every year with neurological disorders is increasing and some of this increase may be attributed to mercury exposure. Pregnant women ingest contaminated fish, which transfers high mercury concentrations to the unborn fetus. This exposure may result in methyl mercury buildup in the brain of the unborn fetus. Symptoms ranging from minor to severe may be observed as special educational needs in school systems. These include learning disorders, developmental delays, and autism. Louisianans are especially susceptible to mercury contamination because fish and shellfish are a major portion of their cultural diet. This study, through the use of Pearsons correlation and multiple regression, associates mercury levels in fish and air emissions, to developmental disorders such as autism, learning disabilities and developmental delays that are recorded in Louisianas public schools (LDE 2002). Socioeconomic variables such as ethnicity, poverty levels, and population density were used as covariates with mercury to understand their potential influences on the relationship. This study found significant associations between mercury and some of the developmental disorders, specifically autism and developmental delay. While the mercury and socioeconomic variables did not account for all of the variability within the study area, these findings prompt further investigations into the complex relationships between environmental mercury and developmental disorders.

Since settlement first began, equality issues between different social classes have been evident in the location of where residents settled in New Orleans. This research seeks to answer the question: What socioeconomic indicators are prevalent in the areas most-at-risk to flooding which could inhabit populations least able to evacuate? I will use Census 2000 block group data from the socioeconomic sample data (SF3) collected in 2000, along with other economic and GIS data from the New Orleans region to statistically represent the distribution of risk by selecting indicators predicted to be in flood zones from a classification tree analysis. Then, the results are shown in a spatial manner to identify the location of the most vulnerable people to a hurricane based on a set of indicators. The ADvanced CIRCulation Model (ADCIRC) hurricane storm surge modeling (1) Hurricane Pam and (2) Hurricane Pam85 percent strength, two hurricane disaster exercises, hurricane probability estimates, and resampled LIDAR elevation data will be used as the base maps to characterize the areas that will flood first during a hurricane. The overlaying of the physical and social layers will identify the most socioeconomically vulnerable people in the first-to-flood areas to show where evacuation planning is essential. Recommendations for successfully evacuating residents are then discussed.

To identify the sites with elevated metal concentrations and factors impacting the concentrations, we studied 128 observations on heavy metals collected from the four inch deep sediments in Louisiana lakes and rivers. Use of Fe as a normalizing factor to interpret the site of metal enrichment was justified based on its high correlation with other heavy metals. The regression coefficients of metal/Fe came out to be significant for all the metals in both level and log versions. For the metals, where prediction exceeded upper 95% confidence interval, we mapped the site with factors such as number of industries located within a five mile radius, distance to major roadways, and road length within one mile. GIS maps were developed for major sites where the selected metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn) exceeded 95% upper confidence interval. In addition to that, multiple regression models were developed. The dependent variable is regressed to land use (six categories), sediment texture, pH, population density, income, industry concentration, road length within one mile distance, and organic matter content with the objective of pointing out the variables significant in causing the elevated metal concentration. Though in many of the metal enriched areas texture of the sediment was fine grained silt clay loam, the relationship did not come out to be significant in regression models. Cu concentration is negatively significant with water as a landuse type. Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, and Zn are significantly related to number of industries. Relationship of Cr and Ni to organic matter and per capita income is significant. Results confirmed the many findings in literature such as the positive correlation of metal concentrations to organic matter, sediment texture, industries and particular landuse type. The findings from this study shed light on interpretation of heavy metal enrichment sites and various anthropogenic as well as natural factors impacting the metal concentration in sediments.