Environmental management in modern industry entails much more than simply measuring the level of contaminants at the discharge point of a chimney stack or pipeline and operating within defined licence limits. It involves: 1) Understanding the environmental risks associated with the industrial operation; 2) Quantifying the environmental assets at risk; 3) Evaluating the environmental challenge from the industry (determining the likely effect of particular emission levels on different environments); 4) Monitoring the condition of environmental assets in response to this challenge; 5) Devising appropriate remedial action where necessary. This study aimed to provide a rigorous and effective framework for decision making concerning vegetated landscapes surrounding industrial premises, particularly those associated with emissions of pollutants to air. Three Alcoa of Australia managed facilities in Victoria were used to develop and test the procedures, namely a coastal site at Point Henry, Geelong, a hinterland forest and heath site at Anglesea and a coastal heath site at Portland. The three facilities were involved in the aluminium smelting industry and the major atmospheric emissions were gaseous and particulate fluorides and sulfur dioxide. Analyses of vegetation distribution and condition were undertaken in order to establish whether the industrial activities at the three sites could be identified as the causes of changes in vegetation. A geographic information system (GIS) was implemented at each facility, to contain cadastral information as well as records of the physical environment and plant and animal species occurrences and condition, where appropriate. The GIS was used to create a surface of vegetation condition over the area of interest at the time of assessment and then over time to evaluate vegetation change and relationship to meteorological and production data. Baseline vegetation condition was established for each facility using large-scale high quality aerial photography and multi-spectral imagery. The photography for each site contained large amounts of latent information on vegetation distribution and condition. When properly rectified and geo-referenced, the images became accessible and open to manipulation within the GIS. At each of the three sites investigated, image classes were selected that provided appropriate detail for the vegetation type. In effect the image became a surrogate of the vegetation frozen in time and space. The ability to extract information on past vegetation condition was shown to be a very valuable asset providing the opportunity to generate new contemporaneous data to augment poor or lost historical data. The process was illustrated by developing vegetation change maps and trend information using past and current photography and limited historical field data. A verified emission model was applied to two of the facilities (Anglesea and Portland) to predict emission effects over the vegetated areas. These were used to evaluate current vegetation condition and change in terms of industrial challenge and other change agencies known or suspected. In each case, further developments of the model were required in order to achieve acceptable predictions of known atmospheric and air pollutant conditions. The investigations at Anglesea demonstrated the importance of fine-scale topographic description and meteorological modelling in order to reconcile modelled and observed environmental conditions in hilly coastal terrain. At Portland, the study revealed the importance of marine aerosols in the distribution and deposition of fluoride in the vicinity of the source. Within the broad framework of vegetation type and general condition at Anglesea and Portland, differences at the micro-scale of individual plants and clumps of plants were examined using multi-spectral imagery. Here differences in image characteristics that related to increased pigmentation and loss of chlorophyll in leaves and increased amounts of dead tissue on plants were evaluated. The change agents for the detected differences within sets and between sets of imagery were analysed and again shown to be mainly non-industrial. Only at Portland did atmospheric emissions from the aluminium smelter play a role at some locations, and then only because the effect was being reinforced by other factors (lack of burning and drought). At Portland, population data for associated fauna and an orchid were examined in relation to the baseline vegetation condition, vegetation change and industrial impact. The distribution and welfare of these species were shown to be generally dependent on vegetation condition and other non-industrial factors. If the vegetation overall was maintained in a condition of vigorous growth and structural diversity, it could be expected that specific dependant flora and fauna would thrive within it. The exception was the orchid, which was shown to be sensitive to emissions and could only thrive in its natural habitat in the vicinity of the smelter if protected by screening vegetation or nurtured by an intensive set of cultural practices that were developed as a result of this study.

Environmental costs of products are closely related to their environmental impacts incurred at all life cycle stages of a product. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) methods are often used to estimate these environmental costs and impacts. However, LCA analysis is known to be a costly and time-consuming method, whereas LCC analysis often neglects the social cost which is currently paid by society as a whole. Therefore, this research proposes a new methodology to assess the environmental impact and social cost for the entire life cycle of a product, which can be used as a simple and transparent tool for the early conceptual design stage. The methodology delivers the Environmental Impact Drivers and the associated Social Cost Drivers for all product life cycle stages via spreadsheets, and it provides the Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) method in the SimaPro software as a user interface. Furthermore, the drivers provide the values for four different geographical regions and damage categories. The conceptual model is based on the impact pathway approach which integrates the Simplified LCA (SLCA) model and the social cost databases. The SLCA model is derived from an extension of previous research whereas the social costs are based on the most suitable Economic Valuation (EV) studies such as the EPS2000d, EXMOD, Ecosense and Asian EV studies. The data collection for the SLCA database was accomplished by using the LCA analysis of the Eco Indicator 99 H/A method and the Hierarchical clustering technique. The data for the social cost database was collected using the Benefit Transfer Method which obtains the EV studies mainly from the Environmental Valuation Reference Inventory (EVRI) data source. Several case studies utilising existing products, including a product redesign case study were used to prove the concept and demonstrate the efficiency of this proposed methodology.

Environmental management in modern industry entails much more than simply measuring the level of contaminants at the discharge point of a chimney stack or pipeline and operating within defined licence limits. It involves: 1) Understanding the environmental risks associated with the industrial operation; 2) Quantifying the environmental assets at risk; 3) Evaluating the environmental challenge from the industry (determining the likely effect of particular emission levels on different environments); 4) Monitoring the condition of environmental assets in response to this challenge; 5) Devising appropriate remedial action where necessary. This study aimed to provide a rigorous and effective framework for decision making concerning vegetated landscapes surrounding industrial premises, particularly those associated with emissions of pollutants to air. Three Alcoa of Australia managed facilities in Victoria were used to develop and test the procedures, namely a coastal site at Point Henry, Geelong, a hinterland forest and heath site at Anglesea and a coastal heath site at Portland. The three facilities were involved in the aluminium smelting industry and the major atmospheric emissions were gaseous and particulate fluorides and sulfur dioxide. Analyses of vegetation distribution and condition were undertaken in order to establish whether the industrial activities at the three sites could be identified as the causes of changes in vegetation. A geographic information system (GIS) was implemented at each facility, to contain cadastral information as well as records of the physical environment and plant and animal species occurrences and condition, where appropriate. The GIS was used to create a surface of vegetation condition over the area of interest at the time of assessment and then over time to evaluate vegetation change and relationship to meteorological and production data. Baseline vegetation condition was established for each facility using large-scale high quality aerial photography and multi-spectral imagery. The photography for each site contained large amounts of latent information on vegetation distribution and condition. When properly rectified and geo-referenced, the images became accessible and open to manipulation within the GIS. At each of the three sites investigated, image classes were selected that provided appropriate detail for the vegetation type. In effect the image became a surrogate of the vegetation frozen in time and space. The ability to extract information on past vegetation condition was shown to be a very valuable asset providing the opportunity to generate new contemporaneous data to augment poor or lost historical data. The process was illustrated by developing vegetation change maps and trend information using past and current photography and limited historical field data. A verified emission model was applied to two of the facilities (Anglesea and Portland) to predict emission effects over the vegetated areas. These were used to evaluate current vegetation condition and change in terms of industrial challenge and other change agencies known or suspected. In each case, further developments of the model were required in order to achieve acceptable predictions of known atmospheric and air pollutant conditions. The investigations at Anglesea demonstrated the importance of fine-scale topographic description and meteorological modelling in order to reconcile modelled and observed environmental conditions in hilly coastal terrain. At Portland, the study revealed the importance of marine aerosols in the distribution and deposition of fluoride in the vicinity of the source. Within the broad framework of vegetation type and general condition at Anglesea and Portland, differences at the micro-scale of individual plants and clumps of plants were examined using multi-spectral imagery. Here differences in image characteristics that related to increased pigmentation and loss of chlorophyll in leaves and increased amounts of dead tissue on plants were evaluated. The change agents for the detected differences within sets and between sets of imagery were analysed and again shown to be mainly non-industrial. Only at Portland did atmospheric emissions from the aluminium smelter play a role at some locations, and then only because the effect was being reinforced by other factors (lack of burning and drought). At Portland, population data for associated fauna and an orchid were examined in relation to the baseline vegetation condition, vegetation change and industrial impact. The distribution and welfare of these species were shown to be generally dependent on vegetation condition and other non-industrial factors. If the vegetation overall was maintained in a condition of vigorous growth and structural diversity, it could be expected that specific dependant flora and fauna would thrive within it. The exception was the orchid, which was shown to be sensitive to emissions and could only thrive in its natural habitat in the vicinity of the smelter if protected by screening vegetation or nurtured by an intensive set of cultural practices that were developed as a result of this study.

Environmental management in modern industry entails much more than simply measuring the level of contaminants at the discharge point of a chimney stack or pipeline and operating within defined licence limits. It involves: 1) Understanding the environmental risks associated with the industrial operation; 2) Quantifying the environmental assets at risk; 3) Evaluating the environmental challenge from the industry (determining the likely effect of particular emission levels on different environments); 4) Monitoring the condition of environmental assets in response to this challenge; 5) Devising appropriate remedial action where necessary. This study aimed to provide a rigorous and effective framework for decision making concerning vegetated landscapes surrounding industrial premises, particularly those associated with emissions of pollutants to air. Three Alcoa of Australia managed facilities in Victoria were used to develop and test the procedures, namely a coastal site at Point Henry, Geelong, a hinterland forest and heath site at Anglesea and a coastal heath site at Portland. The three facilities were involved in the aluminium smelting industry and the major atmospheric emissions were gaseous and particulate fluorides and sulfur dioxide. Analyses of vegetation distribution and condition were undertaken in order to establish whether the industrial activities at the three sites could be identified as the causes of changes in vegetation. A geographic information system (GIS) was implemented at each facility, to contain cadastral information as well as records of the physical environment and plant and animal species occurrences and condition, where appropriate. The GIS was used to create a surface of vegetation condition over the area of interest at the time of assessment and then over time to evaluate vegetation change and relationship to meteorological and production data. Baseline vegetation condition was established for each facility using large-scale high quality aerial photography and multi-spectral imagery. The photography for each site contained large amounts of latent information on vegetation distribution and condition. When properly rectified and geo-referenced, the images became accessible and open to manipulation within the GIS. At each of the three sites investigated, image classes were selected that provided appropriate detail for the vegetation type. In effect the image became a surrogate of the vegetation frozen in time and space. The ability to extract information on past vegetation condition was shown to be a very valuable asset providing the opportunity to generate new contemporaneous data to augment poor or lost historical data. The process was illustrated by developing vegetation change maps and trend information using past and current photography and limited historical field data. A verified emission model was applied to two of the facilities (Anglesea and Portland) to predict emission effects over the vegetated areas. These were used to evaluate current vegetation condition and change in terms of industrial challenge and other change agencies known or suspected. In each case, further developments of the model were required in order to achieve acceptable predictions of known atmospheric and air pollutant conditions. The investigations at Anglesea demonstrated the importance of fine-scale topographic description and meteorological modelling in order to reconcile modelled and observed environmental conditions in hilly coastal terrain. At Portland, the study revealed the importance of marine aerosols in the distribution and deposition of fluoride in the vicinity of the source. Within the broad framework of vegetation type and general condition at Anglesea and Portland, differences at the micro-scale of individual plants and clumps of plants were examined using multi-spectral imagery. Here differences in image characteristics that related to increased pigmentation and loss of chlorophyll in leaves and increased amounts of dead tissue on plants were evaluated. The change agents for the detected differences within sets and between sets of imagery were analysed and again shown to be mainly non-industrial. Only at Portland did atmospheric emissions from the aluminium smelter play a role at some locations, and then only because the effect was being reinforced by other factors (lack of burning and drought). At Portland, population data for associated fauna and an orchid were examined in relation to the baseline vegetation condition, vegetation change and industrial impact. The distribution and welfare of these species were shown to be generally dependent on vegetation condition and other non-industrial factors. If the vegetation overall was maintained in a condition of vigorous growth and structural diversity, it could be expected that specific dependant flora and fauna would thrive within it. The exception was the orchid, which was shown to be sensitive to emissions and could only thrive in its natural habitat in the vicinity of the smelter if protected by screening vegetation or nurtured by an intensive set of cultural practices that were developed as a result of this study.

Environmental management in modern industry entails much more than simply measuring the level of contaminants at the discharge point of a chimney stack or pipeline and operating within defined licence limits. It involves: 1) Understanding the environmental risks associated with the industrial operation; 2) Quantifying the environmental assets at risk; 3) Evaluating the environmental challenge from the industry (determining the likely effect of particular emission levels on different environments); 4) Monitoring the condition of environmental assets in response to this challenge; 5) Devising appropriate remedial action where necessary. This study aimed to provide a rigorous and effective framework for decision making concerning vegetated landscapes surrounding industrial premises, particularly those associated with emissions of pollutants to air. Three Alcoa of Australia managed facilities in Victoria were used to develop and test the procedures, namely a coastal site at Point Henry, Geelong, a hinterland forest and heath site at Anglesea and a coastal heath site at Portland. The three facilities were involved in the aluminium smelting industry and the major atmospheric emissions were gaseous and particulate fluorides and sulfur dioxide. Analyses of vegetation distribution and condition were undertaken in order to establish whether the industrial activities at the three sites could be identified as the causes of changes in vegetation. A geographic information system (GIS) was implemented at each facility, to contain cadastral information as well as records of the physical environment and plant and animal species occurrences and condition, where appropriate. The GIS was used to create a surface of vegetation condition over the area of interest at the time of assessment and then over time to evaluate vegetation change and relationship to meteorological and production data. Baseline vegetation condition was established for each facility using large-scale high quality aerial photography and multi-spectral imagery. The photography for each site contained large amounts of latent information on vegetation distribution and condition. When properly rectified and geo-referenced, the images became accessible and open to manipulation within the GIS. At each of the three sites investigated, image classes were selected that provided appropriate detail for the vegetation type. In effect the image became a surrogate of the vegetation frozen in time and space. The ability to extract information on past vegetation condition was shown to be a very valuable asset providing the opportunity to generate new contemporaneous data to augment poor or lost historical data. The process was illustrated by developing vegetation change maps and trend information using past and current photography and limited historical field data. A verified emission model was applied to two of the facilities (Anglesea and Portland) to predict emission effects over the vegetated areas. These were used to evaluate current vegetation condition and change in terms of industrial challenge and other change agencies known or suspected. In each case, further developments of the model were required in order to achieve acceptable predictions of known atmospheric and air pollutant conditions. The investigations at Anglesea demonstrated the importance of fine-scale topographic description and meteorological modelling in order to reconcile modelled and observed environmental conditions in hilly coastal terrain. At Portland, the study revealed the importance of marine aerosols in the distribution and deposition of fluoride in the vicinity of the source. Within the broad framework of vegetation type and general condition at Anglesea and Portland, differences at the micro-scale of individual plants and clumps of plants were examined using multi-spectral imagery. Here differences in image characteristics that related to increased pigmentation and loss of chlorophyll in leaves and increased amounts of dead tissue on plants were evaluated. The change agents for the detected differences within sets and between sets of imagery were analysed and again shown to be mainly non-industrial. Only at Portland did atmospheric emissions from the aluminium smelter play a role at some locations, and then only because the effect was being reinforced by other factors (lack of burning and drought). At Portland, population data for associated fauna and an orchid were examined in relation to the baseline vegetation condition, vegetation change and industrial impact. The distribution and welfare of these species were shown to be generally dependent on vegetation condition and other non-industrial factors. If the vegetation overall was maintained in a condition of vigorous growth and structural diversity, it could be expected that specific dependant flora and fauna would thrive within it. The exception was the orchid, which was shown to be sensitive to emissions and could only thrive in its natural habitat in the vicinity of the smelter if protected by screening vegetation or nurtured by an intensive set of cultural practices that were developed as a result of this study.

Environmental management in modern industry entails much more than simply measuring the level of contaminants at the discharge point of a chimney stack or pipeline and operating within defined licence limits. It involves: 1) Understanding the environmental risks associated with the industrial operation; 2) Quantifying the environmental assets at risk; 3) Evaluating the environmental challenge from the industry (determining the likely effect of particular emission levels on different environments); 4) Monitoring the condition of environmental assets in response to this challenge; 5) Devising appropriate remedial action where necessary. This study aimed to provide a rigorous and effective framework for decision making concerning vegetated landscapes surrounding industrial premises, particularly those associated with emissions of pollutants to air. Three Alcoa of Australia managed facilities in Victoria were used to develop and test the procedures, namely a coastal site at Point Henry, Geelong, a hinterland forest and heath site at Anglesea and a coastal heath site at Portland. The three facilities were involved in the aluminium smelting industry and the major atmospheric emissions were gaseous and particulate fluorides and sulfur dioxide. Analyses of vegetation distribution and condition were undertaken in order to establish whether the industrial activities at the three sites could be identified as the causes of changes in vegetation. A geographic information system (GIS) was implemented at each facility, to contain cadastral information as well as records of the physical environment and plant and animal species occurrences and condition, where appropriate. The GIS was used to create a surface of vegetation condition over the area of interest at the time of assessment and then over time to evaluate vegetation change and relationship to meteorological and production data. Baseline vegetation condition was established for each facility using large-scale high quality aerial photography and multi-spectral imagery. The photography for each site contained large amounts of latent information on vegetation distribution and condition. When properly rectified and geo-referenced, the images became accessible and open to manipulation within the GIS. At each of the three sites investigated, image classes were selected that provided appropriate detail for the vegetation type. In effect the image became a surrogate of the vegetation frozen in time and space. The ability to extract information on past vegetation condition was shown to be a very valuable asset providing the opportunity to generate new contemporaneous data to augment poor or lost historical data. The process was illustrated by developing vegetation change maps and trend information using past and current photography and limited historical field data. A verified emission model was applied to two of the facilities (Anglesea and Portland) to predict emission effects over the vegetated areas. These were used to evaluate current vegetation condition and change in terms of industrial challenge and other change agencies known or suspected. In each case, further developments of the model were required in order to achieve acceptable predictions of known atmospheric and air pollutant conditions. The investigations at Anglesea demonstrated the importance of fine-scale topographic description and meteorological modelling in order to reconcile modelled and observed environmental conditions in hilly coastal terrain. At Portland, the study revealed the importance of marine aerosols in the distribution and deposition of fluoride in the vicinity of the source. Within the broad framework of vegetation type and general condition at Anglesea and Portland, differences at the micro-scale of individual plants and clumps of plants were examined using multi-spectral imagery. Here differences in image characteristics that related to increased pigmentation and loss of chlorophyll in leaves and increased amounts of dead tissue on plants were evaluated. The change agents for the detected differences within sets and between sets of imagery were analysed and again shown to be mainly non-industrial. Only at Portland did atmospheric emissions from the aluminium smelter play a role at some locations, and then only because the effect was being reinforced by other factors (lack of burning and drought). At Portland, population data for associated fauna and an orchid were examined in relation to the baseline vegetation condition, vegetation change and industrial impact. The distribution and welfare of these species were shown to be generally dependent on vegetation condition and other non-industrial factors. If the vegetation overall was maintained in a condition of vigorous growth and structural diversity, it could be expected that specific dependant flora and fauna would thrive within it. The exception was the orchid, which was shown to be sensitive to emissions and could only thrive in its natural habitat in the vicinity of the smelter if protected by screening vegetation or nurtured by an intensive set of cultural practices that were developed as a result of this study.

After more than a decade of environmental impact assessment ( EIA ) provisions within South Australian Planning Act, 1982 it is appropriate to examine the role of the environmental impact statement ( EIS ) as a major element of EIA and an important decision making tool for major projects over this period. The thesis first provides a review of EIA from its overseas origins to its development at the Commonwealth level in Australia. This provides the context within which to examine the system of EIA for major developments or projects in South Australia, which are dealt with largely through the EIS process. The thesis examines the type of projects which, according to the discretionary criteria in the Planning Act, have attracted EIS requirements between 1982 - 1993 and uses this to determine generic groupings of projects. It is noted that marinas represent the largest group of projects with EIS requirements, although EISs have been called for power generation related projects, electricity transmission line projects, tourist related projects, industrial projects, mining projects, water management projects, transport projects and a number of other projects. The thesis examines the number of EISs that have been completed, whether or not the projects have been approved or rejected and to what extent any patterns have emerged. The thesis then focuses on all the completed EISs in terms of their content, timing of preparation, public involvement and response, associated legislative requirements, type and role of developer, type and role of EIS consultant, the assessment of the EIS, and the decision making process. The thesis notes the high approval rate for projects with completed EISs suggesting most of the environmental problems have been resolved or are capable of being resolved. It is also noted that a number of projects are abandoned before the EIS is ever completed and that the few rejected EIS proposals are associated with high numbers of public submissions. Although each of the rejected proposals has a complex history of project development, environmental assessment and negotiations, it is noted that the decision to reject the proposals was ultimately a political decision. The thesis comments on the limited role of the South Australian Planning Commission ( SAPC ) in EIS project decision making in South Australia and the increasing use of the Governor as a decision maker. Although the SAPC is the statutory planning authority it is constrained by having to have regard to the principles in the Development Plan which is geared toward development control rather than for the extraordinary major projects which become subject to EIS requirements. The thesis then examines proposed changes to EIA in the context of early attempts to initiate EIA reform in South Australia through to the current Development Bill. These proposals are placed in context with changes to EIA procedures that have taken place at the Commonwealth level, the proposed development of a national agreement on EIA, and also the implications for EIA which are likely to flow from recent Commonwealth initiatives on ecologically sustainable development strategies. In addition the implications of recently developed environment protection agencies and associated legislation are examined at both the State and Commonwealth levels. Collectively these reviews and analyses provide the context of current thinking on EIA as it is likely to affect South Australian EIA processes in the future. Finally the thesis discusses the evolving role of the South Australian EIS in the context of its evolutionary process and the proposed legislative changes in South Australia, together with other related initiatives. This discussion touches on a number of issues such as public administration, the actual practice of the EIA process as opposed to the theory of EIA and what is written into the EIA legislation. In conclusion an overview is given of the current role of the EIS with some predictions for the future of EIA in South Australia. / Thesis (M.Plan.)--Department of Architecture, 1993.

Environmental management in modern industry entails much more than simply measuring the level of contaminants at the discharge point of a chimney stack or pipeline and operating within defined licence limits. It involves: 1) Understanding the environmental risks associated with the industrial operation; 2) Quantifying the environmental assets at risk; 3) Evaluating the environmental challenge from the industry (determining the likely effect of particular emission levels on different environments); 4) Monitoring the condition of environmental assets in response to this challenge; 5) Devising appropriate remedial action where necessary. This study aimed to provide a rigorous and effective framework for decision making concerning vegetated landscapes surrounding industrial premises, particularly those associated with emissions of pollutants to air. Three Alcoa of Australia managed facilities in Victoria were used to develop and test the procedures, namely a coastal site at Point Henry, Geelong, a hinterland forest and heath site at Anglesea and a coastal heath site at Portland. The three facilities were involved in the aluminium smelting industry and the major atmospheric emissions were gaseous and particulate fluorides and sulfur dioxide. Analyses of vegetation distribution and condition were undertaken in order to establish whether the industrial activities at the three sites could be identified as the causes of changes in vegetation. A geographic information system (GIS) was implemented at each facility, to contain cadastral information as well as records of the physical environment and plant and animal species occurrences and condition, where appropriate. The GIS was used to create a surface of vegetation condition over the area of interest at the time of assessment and then over time to evaluate vegetation change and relationship to meteorological and production data. Baseline vegetation condition was established for each facility using large-scale high quality aerial photography and multi-spectral imagery. The photography for each site contained large amounts of latent information on vegetation distribution and condition. When properly rectified and geo-referenced, the images became accessible and open to manipulation within the GIS. At each of the three sites investigated, image classes were selected that provided appropriate detail for the vegetation type. In effect the image became a surrogate of the vegetation frozen in time and space. The ability to extract information on past vegetation condition was shown to be a very valuable asset providing the opportunity to generate new contemporaneous data to augment poor or lost historical data. The process was illustrated by developing vegetation change maps and trend information using past and current photography and limited historical field data. A verified emission model was applied to two of the facilities (Anglesea and Portland) to predict emission effects over the vegetated areas. These were used to evaluate current vegetation condition and change in terms of industrial challenge and other change agencies known or suspected. In each case, further developments of the model were required in order to achieve acceptable predictions of known atmospheric and air pollutant conditions. The investigations at Anglesea demonstrated the importance of fine-scale topographic description and meteorological modelling in order to reconcile modelled and observed environmental conditions in hilly coastal terrain. At Portland, the study revealed the importance of marine aerosols in the distribution and deposition of fluoride in the vicinity of the source. Within the broad framework of vegetation type and general condition at Anglesea and Portland, differences at the micro-scale of individual plants and clumps of plants were examined using multi-spectral imagery. Here differences in image characteristics that related to increased pigmentation and loss of chlorophyll in leaves and increased amounts of dead tissue on plants were evaluated. The change agents for the detected differences within sets and between sets of imagery were analysed and again shown to be mainly non-industrial. Only at Portland did atmospheric emissions from the aluminium smelter play a role at some locations, and then only because the effect was being reinforced by other factors (lack of burning and drought). At Portland, population data for associated fauna and an orchid were examined in relation to the baseline vegetation condition, vegetation change and industrial impact. The distribution and welfare of these species were shown to be generally dependent on vegetation condition and other non-industrial factors. If the vegetation overall was maintained in a condition of vigorous growth and structural diversity, it could be expected that specific dependant flora and fauna would thrive within it. The exception was the orchid, which was shown to be sensitive to emissions and could only thrive in its natural habitat in the vicinity of the smelter if protected by screening vegetation or nurtured by an intensive set of cultural practices that were developed as a result of this study.

This study begins with a review of the concept of sustainability and sustainability indicators in the context of the pig and poultry industries in Santa Catarina State (SC), in Southern Brazil, and proposes an approach to the development of sustainability indicators for these industries. A review of the background and current situation of the pig and poultry industries in SC revealed that they are well organised into vertically integrated production systems and are regarded as being very competitive in world markets from technical and economic points of view. In 2002, SC produced 24% of total pork and 20% of total chicken production in Brazil in 2002, but this State has an area of only 95,000 km2, which amounts to just 1.1% of the country. SC also contributed 66% of pork exports and 54% of poultry exports from Brazil in 2002. So far the pig and poultry industries in SC have developed successfully, but recent changes towards more intensive production methods have resulted in much concern being expressed by the community, as the environmental impact of waste produced in the region has increased. The review of literature showed that in order to be sustainable, the pig and poultry industries in SC should acknowledge the concept of the “triple bottom line” and the principles of ecologically sustainable development. These include (i) biophysical or environmental sustainability, (ii) economic viability and (iii) social sustainability as criteria to guide industry development. The sustainability of the pig and poultry industries is influenced by local, regional, national and global factors which operate on several scales, and which in turn, indicate the need to use a multi-dimensional approach, combining environmental, economic, and social attributes. This study used a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods and was completed in four phases. In the first phase, an electronic survey of 205 stakeholders (complemented by 60 interviews with farmers) was undertaken to identify their views and perceptions of what sustainability meant to them. The survey was also designed to obtain stakeholders’ views on a suggested list of sustainability indicators. In Phase 2, the findings of the e-survey were discussed with panels of key industry stakeholders in 4 focus group discussions with of 47 participants to develop the list of indicators. In the third phase, a streamlined Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study was conducted, to quantify the flows of materials, energy and of natural resource uses and to assess environmental impact. Finally, in Phase 4, stakeholder feedback was sought in 9 meetings to discuss and refine preliminary results and conclusions from the previous three phases of work. In the LCA the environmental burdens produced by typical intensive pig and poultry production systems were quantified and the contribution to each of nine selected environmental effects was estimated. The functional units (FU) were 1 tonne of live weight (LW) of pigs and 1 tonne of LW of chickens delivered to the gate of the abattoir. The boundaries of the systems analysed included the processes of producing fertilisers, feed products (maize and soybeans), energy, fuel, pesticides, production of rations, production of pigs and chickens and transportation required during all stages until the pigs and chickens are delivered to the abattoir. Data were collected from a variety of sources, including pig and poultry industry operators, research institutions, and agribusiness analysts from SC, as well as publicly available databases. Identified environmental hotspots in pig production were greenhouse gas emissions, acidification, and eutrophication, particularly from ration production and waste management. Environmental hotspots for poultry production reflect the high use of energy and pesticides, particularly associated with ration production from soybeans. The study concluded that although economic performance is competitive in world markets, most producers were operating outside the boundaries of sustainability because of inadequate waste management and excessive waste produced in a small geographical area, beyond the assimilation capacity of the local environment. This also causes other environmental effects (such as offensive odours, and increased numbers of blackflies, and houseflies), which were not quantified in the LCA study, but which were regarded as very important issues by stakeholders in the survey and focus group discussions. While comparing the overall environmental impact of producing 1 FU of pigs and poultry, this study concluded that under current production systems, pigs cause 68% greater impact than chickens. The key indicators proposed to assess the sustainability of the pig and poultry industries in SC were grouped into physical or environmental, economic, and social indicators. For physical and environmental indicators, monitoring the natural resource condition is the key indicator and requires measurement of attributes such as manure load per area of land and nutrient balance (P and K), soil condition, water use and water quality, agricultural plant species diversity, impact on native vegetation, and chemical residues in products. Among the economic indicators, long-term real net farm income and the industries’ overall competitiveness in national and international markets are key indicators. Attributes to measure these indicators are real net farm income, cost of production, farmer’s terms of trade, total factor productivity, and disposable income per farm household. Other farm level technical indicators which influence the economic outcome, such as feed conversion and productivity indices for pigs and poultry, also need to be monitored. For social indicators, the age structure and gender balance of the agricultural workforce, farmers’ managerial skills and level of training, as well as access to basic services, such as health, education, communications, and electricity in rural communities, are the key sustainability indicators. This study made four main contributions to knowledge: (a) the views and perceptions about sustainability among pig and poultry stakeholders were identified; (b) the environmental impacts of pig and poultry production were quantified and compared; (c) a set of key sustainability indicators for the pig and poultry industries was developed and validated; and (d) a framework for change towards sustainability and policy guidelines were suggested. The overall conclusion of the study is that, to be sustainable, the pig and poultry industries need to adjust their management practices, policies, and development strategies to incorporate the principles of ecologically sustainable development. Feeding strategies and methods of grain production have much influence on the key points of environmental impact, such as global warming, pesticides, and energy consumption. Waste management, however, has the greatest local impact, because of water and soil pollution and reduction in the quality of life due to offensive odours, blackflies, and houseflies. Sustainability indicators can thus assist to drive the industries to adopt improvements in the production systems to achieve better environmental performance. Although the findings of this study are confined to SC, the principles are generally applicable to other similar livestock industries in other places. The main justification for conducting this study rests on the increasing demands by the government, community and industry stakeholders for initiatives to reduce the impact of the pig and poultry production on the environment, while maintaining and enhancing its economic competitiveness in global markets and continuing to deliver important social benefits.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Alnarp : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2007. / Härtill 3 uppsatser.