A Avaliação Ambiental Estratégica (AAE) é um instrumento que tem como objetivo dar suporte à tomada de decisão, informando as possíveis consequências para o meio ambiente derivadas de ações estratégicas (Políticas, Planos e Programas) e, desta forma, possibilita a inserção de questões ambientais nos níveis estratégicos do planejamento. A efetividade da AAE tem sido foco de estudos recentes, contribuindo para o seu aprimoramento. No Brasil, apesar de iniciativas institucionais para a formalização da AAE, esse instrumento não é regulamentado, o que torna sua prática sujeita a grande variabilidade. A fim de suprir a lacuna de informações quanto aos procedimentos e à influência dessas avaliações na tomada de decisão, este trabalho teve como objetivo analisar a efetividade da prática brasileira do instrumento. Para isso, analisou-se a efetividade processual de 26 AAEs (72% do total de AAEs identificadas neste trabalho, realizadas entre 1997 e 2012) e a efetividade substantiva de três delas, valendo-se de procedimentos qualitativos de pesquisa. Os resultados mostram que, de modo geral, a prática brasileira não é consistente em termos de procedimentos, havendo grande variação entre as etapas desenvolvidas em cada caso, o que parece se relacionar com os motivadores e/ou elaboradores da avaliação. Além disso, a AAE não tem influenciado a tomada de decisão principal, sendo mais voltada para a mitigação do objeto avaliado. No entanto, notam-se alguns efeitos positivos indiretos, em especial com relação à organização e disponibilização de informações e a promoção da comunicação entre instituições e setores. Evidencia-se, então a necessidade de se refletir sobre o uso da AAE no contexto brasileiro, sobretudo discutindo-se objetivos e diretrizes procedimentais para o instrumento, de modo a evitar a variabilidade e inadequações observadas na pesquisa, bem como buscar a sua incorporação em momentos mais adequados ao timing do planejamento, para que a AAE seja, de fato, considerada na decisão. / The purpose of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is to support decision-making, advising possible consequences of strategic actions (Politics, Plans and Programmes), thus ensuring that environmental issues are taken into account as soon as possible in strategic planning. Recently, SEA effectiveness is being studied intending to improve its practice. In Brazil, regardless some institutional initiatives to formalize the SEA, it is not legally required and there is no national guidelines, which makes the SEA practice. In order to fill in the gap of information about the proceedings and the influence of these SEA practices in decision making, the purpose of this study was to analyse the effectiveness of Brazilian SEA, reviewing the procedural effectiveness for 26 SEAs (72% of all the identified Brazilian SEA done between 1997 and 2012) and the substantive effectiveness for three cases. The results shown that, generally, Brazilian practice is not procedurally consistent, being highly dependent on the stakeholders involved. Besides, SEA does not influence the main decisionmaking and is focused in mitigation actions. Nevertheless, the SEA achieved some positive effects, e.g. publishing important information about planning process, and improving the communication between institutions and sectors. These findings suggest that it is necessary to discuss the SEA use in Brazilian context, especially considering and defining its goals and proceedings to avoid the variability and inadequacies observed, as well as enhancing its use in strategic levels and at more appropriate timing, intending to really contribute to decision process.

Os sistemas de avaliação ambiental de edifícios são cada vez mais empregados no mercado de construção, servindo de suporte para a realização de diversos estudos acadêmicos sobre esta matéria. Muitos autores e sites ressaltam os benefícios das certificações LEED e do Processo AQUA, porém poucos discutem quantitativamente os efeitos, dificuldades e motivos de sua adoção, evidenciando, dessa forma, a necessidade e a importância de pesquisas como esta. Neste contexto, este trabalho tem como objetivo geral traçar um panorama da certificação ambiental de edifícios no Brasil, através da percepção dos principais intervenientes (stakeholder) no processo. Os objetivos principais deste trabalho consistem na identificação das motivações para a certificação de sistemas de avaliação ambiental de edifícios (LEED e Processo AQUA) e dos benefícios e dificuldades inerentes a sua implementação. Foi possível ainda efetuar várias recomendações destinadas a orientar e facilitar o processo de adoção destes sistemas, que inclui a proposta de ações a serem desenvolvidas pelas empresas, organismos de certificação e autoridades governamentais competentes. O método utilizado foi de pesquisa survey, junto a vários agentes envolvidos no processo de certificação ambiental. Para tal, foram concebidos diferentes questionários destinados a caracterizar a adoção dos sistemas de avaliação ambiental de edifícios que foram encaminhados aos empreendedores e consultores de empreendimentos certificados ou em processo de certificação. Obtiveram-se em total 21 questionários válidos que indicaram que as principais motivações para obter a certificação estão ligadas à melhoria da imagem e do empreendimento e que os principais benefícios estão relacionados com o marketing e a redução dos custos operacionais. Estes resultados também indicaram que existem dificuldades para essa adoção principalmente com a falta de integração no processo de projeto e a falta de fornecedores para materiais e tecnologias sustentáveis. / The building environmental assessment systems over the world are employing increasingly and we can find several studies concerning this subject. Many authors and websites emphasize the benefits of LEED and Process AQUA, but few discuss quantitatively the impacts, difficulties and reasons for its adoption, showing thus the need and importance of research like this. In this context, this paper aims to outline a general overview of the environmental certification of buildings in Brazil, through the key stakeholders perception (stakeholder) of the process. The main targets of this work were to identify the motivations for the environmental assessment systems for buildings and the corresponding benefits and difficulties concerning of implementation. It was also possible to make some recommendations to orientate and support the adoption of environmental assessment systems for buildings. These recomendations include the identification of actions to be implemented by companies, certification bodies and governmental authorities. In order to accomplish the defined targets, it were developed surveys which can lead to characterize the adoption of environmental assessment systems for buildings (LEED and AQUA Process). These survey was sent directly to entrepreneurs and consultants of a sample of brasilian companies with building certified or certification process (LEED and AQUA Process). It was received 21 answers that indicated that the main motivations for certification are linked to improving the image and building and that the main benefits are related to marketing and reducing operating costs. These results also indicated that there are difficulties in adopting this especially with the lack of integration in the design process and the lack of suppliers for materials and sustainable technologies.

Submitted by Maicon Juliano Schmidt (maicons) on 2015-08-07T11:57:52Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Elenize Ferreira Maciel.pdf: 3841486 bytes, checksum: 9a3420d2d48e3deb4c30dfb972dfe8cc (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-08-07T11:57:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Elenize Ferreira Maciel.pdf: 3841486 bytes, checksum: 9a3420d2d48e3deb4c30dfb972dfe8cc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-25 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / FINEP - Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / Atualmente a busca por alternativas que minimizem o consumo de matérias-primas e energia e, consequentemente leva à redução de custos, exige estudos voltados para as questões ambientais. Por isso, cada vez mais, pesquisas científicas e tecnológicas estão sendo realizadas visando encontrar maneiras dos resíduos voltarem para o ciclo produtivo e, com isso, reduzirem sua geração e disposição em aterros industriais. Com o advento da industrialização e da variedade de resíduos contendo metais pesados, como o cromo (Cr) presente em solos ou efluentes industriais, estes são estabilizados pela imobilização de seus teores, utilizando-se a técnica de estabilização por solidificação (E/S) em matrizes de concreto. Apesar disso, a forma de tratamento de um resíduo pode causar impactos ambientais negativos, devido ao tipo de resíduo, tecnologia utilizada e seu emprego como novo material a partir do uso combinado do resíduo com a matéria-prima e, até mesmo, com outros tipos de resíduos. Observa-se que as normas brasileiras existentes atualmente para analisar resíduos estão sendo utilizadas para avaliar os produtos provenientes da E/S, onde geralmente simulam situações de disposição final em aterro, somente focando no resíduo, não considerando o real comportamento destes produtos ao longo do seu uso. Neste contexto, o objetivo geral desta pesquisa é avaliar o método Unisinos/Inovatec para a obtenção de extrato lixiviado em produtos estabilizados e solidificados (E/S) com Cr em matriz de concreto de cimento Portland, com vistas ao emprego na avaliação ambiental de materiais e componentes da construção civil. Para isso, foram confeccionados corpos de prova com e sem adição de 2% de óxido de cromo (Cr2O3), os quais foram submetidos a testes de lixiviação por imersão e irrigação. As propriedades do concreto foram avaliadas através dos ensaios de abatimento do tronco de cone, resistência à compressão e porosimetria. A caracterização química das amostras de pasta de cimento foi realizada através de análises de DRX, MEV, ICP-OES e pH. A água deionizada e o ácido utilizados na solução lixiviante, assim como os extratos lixiviados coletados nos tanques dos testes de imersão e irrigação foram analisados por ICP-OES. A partir dos resultados obtidos nos dois testes de lixiviação, por imersão e por irrigação, foi verificado o encapsulamento de 99,99% do Cr no concreto. As duas formas de avaliação da lixiviação de Cr total em monólitos de concreto, durante a fase de uso, apresentaram encapsulamento do Cr no 1º ciclo de lixiviação, o mesmo não sendo mais detectado nos próximos ciclos. A proposta do Método Unisinos/Inovatec para obtenção de extrato lixiviado em concretos com Cr teve a mesma tendência de comportamento observada em estudo com cerâmica vermelha. Entre outros, este fato pode ser considerado como um aspecto positivo para a adoção da proposta do Método, tendo em vista a avaliação ambiental da incorporação de resíduos em componentes de construção civil. / Nowadays the search for alternatives that minimize the consumption of raw materials and energy and thus reduce costs requires studies focused on environmental issues. Therefore, increasingly, scientific research and technology are being conducted to find ways of waste back to the production cycle and thus reduce their generation and disposal in landfills. With the industrialization and the variety of wastes containing heavy metals such as chromium (Cr), present in soil or industrial wastewater, these are stabilized by immobilization of its contents, using a solidification by solidification (S/S) technique in concrete matrix. Nevertheless, the way how the waste is treated can cause negative environmental impacts due to the waste type, technology used and its use as new material from the combined use of the residue with the raw material and even with other waste. It is observed that the existing Brazilian standards today to analyze waste are being used to evaluate the products from the S/S which usually simulate final disposal situations in landfill, only focusing on waste, not considering the actual behavior of these products, over its use. In this context, the aim of this study is to evaluate the Unisinos/Inovatec method for obtaining leached extract stabilized and solidified products (S/S) analyzing the Cr in cement concrete matrix, , overlooking to employment in the environmental assessment of materials and construction components. For this, specimens were prepared with and without addition of 2% chromium oxide (Cr2O3) and were subjected to leaching tests by immersion and irrigation. The concrete properties were evaluated through the Slump test, compressive strength and porosimetry. The chemical characterization of cement paste samples was made through analysis of XRD, SEM, ICP-OES and pH. The deionized water used in the acid leaching solution, and leaching extracts collected in the immersion and irrigation tests were analyzed by ICP-OES. From the results obtained in the two leaching tests, by immersion and irrigation, it was found that 99.99% of Cr was encapsulated. The proposed Unisinos/Inovatec method for obtaining leached extract in concrete with Cr showed the same trend of behavior observed in a study with red ceramic. Among others, this fact can be considered as a positive aspect to the adoption of the proposed method, in view of the environmental assessment of the incorporation of waste in construction components.

Submitted by Mariana Dornelles Vargas (marianadv) on 2015-05-04T15:08:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 desenvolvimento_proposta.pdf: 985497 bytes, checksum: 5bb352aaf9236ce08aef0fdaaa332efd (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-04T15:08:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 desenvolvimento_proposta.pdf: 985497 bytes, checksum: 5bb352aaf9236ce08aef0fdaaa332efd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-08-27 / Nenhuma / Este trabalho apresenta o desenvolvimento de uma proposta de indicadores para a avaliação do desempenho ambiental dos processos produtivos industriais, tendo como parâmetros os dez Princípios dos Sistemas Naturais Maduros, Sistemas do Tipo III, descritos pela Biomimética: (1) usam resíduos como recursos; (2) diversificam-se e cooperam para o uso completo do habitat; (3) assimilam e usam energia eficientemente; (4) aperfeiçoam em vez de explorar ao máximo; (5) usam materiais parcimoniosamente; (6) não sujam sua morada; (7) não esgotam recursos; (8) mantêm-se em equilíbrio com a biosfera; (9) operam com base em informações; e (10) consomem recursos do próprio habitat. A Biomimética estuda os modelos de funcionamento da natureza e os imita ou inspira-se neles para compreender e propor rotas e soluções para os problemas humanos. Portanto, para esta nova abordagem, os processos de fabricação das indústrias deveriam incorporar princípios que são empregados pelos animais e pelas plantas, como por exemplo, usar a luz do sol e compostos simples para produzir fibras, plásticos e produtos químicos totalmente biodegradáveis. Paralelamente, foram estudados os conceitos dos métodos de gestão ambiental na indústria: a Eco-Eficiência, a Produção mais Limpa, a Produção Limpa, as Normas ISO, a Ecologia Industrial e a Metodologia Zeri. Posteriormente, foram levantados os métodos de avaliação do desempenho ambiental industrial, modelos para construção de sistemas de indicadores e analisados os indicadores de avaliação ambiental desenvolvidos por diferentes entidades para o setor industrial. É sugerido para cada Princípio um indicador, exceto para os Princípios 3 e 4. Para estes, identificou-se a importância da utilização do indicador de pressão e outro de resposta, considerando a atual impossibilidade de alterações estruturais na matriz energética mundial e no uso de materiais. Isso levou a determinação de doze indicadores que representam o comportamento dos aspectos industriais alinhado aos Princípios dos Sistemas Naturais Maduros. Assim, analisa-se o desempenho dos aspectos da atividade industrial sob a ótica de um padrão de eficiência que contempla uma estratégia diferenciada contida nos Princípios dos Sistemas Naturais Maduros, base de todo este trabalho. Certamente, essa concepção poderá contribuir, de uma forma eficaz, para o desenvolvimento da dimensão ambiental da sustentabilidade a partir da atividade industrial. / This work presents the development of a proposal of indicators for assessing the environmental performance of industrial processes, taking as parameters the ten Principles of Mature Natural Systems, described by Biomimetics: (1) use waste as a resource, (2) diversifying, cooperate to the full use of habitat, (3) assimilate and use energy efficiently, (4) enhance rather than exploit to the maximum (5) use materials sparingly, (6) does not mess your address, (7) do not deplete resources, (8) remain in equilibrium with the biosphere, (9) operate on the basis of information (10) consume resources of their own habitat. The Biomimicry studies models of nature and then imitates or draws them to understand and propose solutions to human problems. So for this new approach, manufacturing processes of industries should incorporate principles which are used by animals and plants, for example, use sunlight and simple compounds to produce fibers, plastics and chemicals completely biodegradable. Parallel studies on the concepts of methods of environmental management in industry: Eco-Efficiency, Cleaner Production, ISO, Industrial Ecology and Zeri Methodology. The methods of industrial environmental performance assessment, models for building systems of indicators and analysis of environmental assessment indicators were subsequently raised developed by different parties to the industrial sector. For each Principle is suggested one indicator, except for the 3 and 4 Principles, which identified the importance of using a pressure gauge and another response, considering the current lack of structural changes in global energy production and use of materials. This led to determination of twelve indicators that represent the behavior of industrial aspects aligned to the Principles of Natural Systems. It is analyze the performance of industrial aspects activity from the viewpoint of an efficiency standard that includes a differentiated strategy contained in the Principles of Natural Systems Mature, base of this work. Certainly this concept can contribute effectively to the development of environmental sustainability from the industrial activity.

Swedish municipalities are required to produce a municipal energy plan for their energy supply and use. Whether energy planning is suitable to manage local energy systems, however, is subject to debate. This thesis maps municipal energy planning: the scopes of energy plans and whether goals stated in energy plans are fulfilled. It also presents a pilot project with the implementation of an energy planning process where four different decision-making tools were applied: a Citizen’s panel, scenario techniques and quantitative and qualitative environmental assessments. The results from the mapping of energy planning and the experiences from the pilot project are then the bases for a discussion about the effectiveness of energy planning. The thesis is based on six papers; five scientific papers and one working paper. The first three papers contribute to mapping municipal energy planning in terms of expressed volition (goals, measures and strategies in the energy plans), whether goals are fulfilled and the extent of environmental analyses and assessments in the plans. The three subsequent papers present the implementation and evaluations of the energy planning process in the pilot project. The scopes of the studied energy plans have varied over time and have been adaptive to external factors such as contemporary energy policies and international trends. Environmental analyses and assessments were more commonly occurring in the energy plans adopted between 2006 and 2008 compared to those adopted between 1995 and 1998. The environmental analyses and assessments were however less comprehensive in the newer energy plans. Most positive development, in terms of fulfilled goals, took place for issues within the power of the local authority, for example district heating expansion and energy efficiency measures in public buildings. Experiences from the pilot project showed that decision-making tools can contribute to a broader scope of energy planning, more comprehensive environmental assessments and legitimacy. Based on the research findings possibilities for more effective energy planning are discussed. Effectiveness is discussed in terms of scope and legitimacy and how a broad scope and legitimacy are affected by the use of decision-making tools. It is concluded that energy planning has potential for being an effective tool for strategic energy work at the local level. The use of decision-making tools can also contribute to learning as well as legitimacy to energy planning.

In Sweden, utilisation of incinerator residues outside disposal areas is restricted by environmental concerns, as such residues commonly contain greater amounts of potentially toxic trace elements than the natural materials they replace. On the other hand, utilisation can also provide environmental benefits by decreasing the need for landfill and reducing raw material extraction. This thesis provides increased knowledge and proposes better approaches for environmental assessment of incinerator residue utilisation, particularly bottom ash from municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI).A life cycle assessment (LCA) based approach was outlined for environmental assessment of incinerator residue utilisation, in which leaching of trace elements as well as other emissions to air and water and the use of resources were regarded as constituting the potential environmental impact from the system studied. Case studies were performed for i) road construction with or without MSWI bottom ash, ii) three management scenarios for MSWI bottom ash and iii) three management scenarios for wood ash. Different types of potential environmental impact predominated in the activities of the system and the scenarios differed in use of resources and energy. Utilising MSWI bottom ash in road construction and recycling of wood ash on forest land saved more natural resources and energy than when these materials were managed according to the other scenarios investigated, including dumping in landfill. There is a potential for trace element leaching regardless of how the ash is managed.Trace element leaching, particularly of copper (Cu), was identified as being relatively important for environmental assessment of MSWI bottom ash utilisation. CuO is suggested as the most important type of Cu-containing mineral in weathered MSWI bottom ash, whereas in the leachate Cu is mainly present in complexes with dissolved organic matter (DOM). The hydrophilic components of the DOM were more important for Cu binding than previously understood. Differences were also observed between MSWI bottom ash DOM and the natural DOM for which the geochemical speciation models SHM and NICA-Donnan are calibrated. Revised parameter values for speciation modelling are therefore suggested. Additions of salt or natural DOM in the influent did not change the leachate concentration of Cu. Thus, although Cl and natural DOM might be present in the influent in the field due to road salting or infiltration of soil water, this is of minor importance for the potential environmental impact from MSWI bottom ash.This thesis allows estimates of long-term leaching and toxicity to be improved and demonstrates the need for broadening the system boundaries in order to highlight the trade-offs between different types of impact. For decisions on whether incinerator residues should be utilised or landfilled, the use of a life cycle perspective in combination with more detailed assessments is recommended. / QC 20100914

Assessment of the myriad of historic attempts to manage and/or restore degraded drylands offers a rich opportunity to learn from the past, particularly if conducted with full stakeholder engagement. Participatory environmental assessment of past land management and restoration actions would contribute to the improvement of future management techniques in a way relevant to the concerns of people involved with or impacted by these actions. This can also help to deal with the often scant information available, conflicting values and perceptions among stakeholders, and the uncertainties inherent to complex dryland systems. In this study I applied and evaluated a participatory protocol that incorporated multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) tools to assess five actions in the San Simon watershed, one of the most extreme examples of degradation and human intervention in southeastern Arizona (U.S.). The participatory assessment process included a semi-structured interview, elicitation of local-based assessment criteria, prioritization of the assessment criteria, estimation of data, a MCDA-based integration and group evaluation of final results. The process was used to evaluate five combinations of grazing management, vegetation management and hydraulic structures implemented between the 1940s and 1980s. The application of this process allowed me to not only evaluate these actions in a participatory way, but also to identify and compare values and perceptions connected to the historic, cultural and scientific narratives used by three different categories of stakeholders (researchers, practitioners and land users). The revised Simos' procedure used to elicit assessment criteria weights proved useful to expose values and perceptions, source of the individual criteria priorities, while revealing conflictive points of views among the stakeholders. The outranking-facilitated participatory assessment, when compared to the unaided baseline assessment, proved useful in making stakeholder preferences explicit in the form of evaluation criteria and weights, while incorporating data and uncertainty. The specific MCDA outranking integration model used, ELECTRE IS, proved to be simple and systematically synthetic, helping stakeholders structure and re-evaluate their unaided assessments. The results of this study provide insights in how stakeholders' knowledge and views can be elicited, explored and effectively incorporated to assess and learn from past land management and restoration actions implemented in drylands.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Humans have a profound impact on ecosystems, and land-use change constitutes a primary driving force in the loss of biodiversity. Habitat loss and fragmentation are key factors in this process by seriously impeding the habitat availability and movement of species, leading to a significant decrease in population viability. Landscape connectivity management able of crossing administrative and ecological spatial and temporal scales has been identified as one of the most important measures to counteract these negative impacts. The use of graph-theory and network-based landscape-ecological tools has become established as a promising way forward to address these issues. Despite urgent needs to adapt and implement such tools in planning, assessment and decision-making, surprisingly little attention has been paid to developing approaches for their effective practical application. This thesis presents the development of a toolbox with network-based, landscape-ecological methods and graph-theoretic indicators, which can be effectively implemented by practitioners within environmental assessment, physical planning and design, to analyze landscape connectivity. Recent advances in network analysis and landscape ecology are brought together and adapted for practical application, bridging the gap between science and practice. The use of participatory approaches was identified as key to successful development, and several workshops, meetings, interviews, as well as prototype testing of the developed software were conducted throughout the study. Input data and selection of species were based on the experience gained through seven real-world cases, commissioned by different governmental organizations within Stockholm County. The practitioners’ perspectives on effective practical application of the proposed toolbox were then assessed through an interview-study. The respondents anticipated improved communication with other actors in addition to being able to better assess critical ecological structures within the landscape. The toolbox was finally tested in a large-scale network analysis of impacts of the regional development plan (RUFS 2010), leading to important insights on the planning of connectivity in an urbanizing region. / <p>QC 20111125</p>

Environmental assessments and authorisations surrounding project level developments are often made in isolation, without consideration of the regional or strategic context within which individual developments are done. This research investigates the quality of Environmental Management Frameworks (EMF) as strategic environmental instrument. EMF is a unique South African instrument that was first conceptualised in 1989, enacted in 2006 and updated in 2010. EMFs were developed to map environmental sensitivity to aid the screening out of undesired developments in sensitive environments and to minimise unnecessary project level assessments in preferred development areas. EMFs form an important link between environmental assessment (EA) processes and planning strategies such as Spatial Development Frameworks (SDFs) and Integrated Development Plans (IDPs), due to their spatial output of environmental sensitivity maps and their ability to feed strategic assessment processes required by SDFs. They have a legal mandate which ensures their assimilation and use. This research uses a multiple case study approach to review seven EMF documents for their quality. The quality aspects identified are the process, methodology and documentation components, using the printed EMF documentation as primary information source. Quality review criteria were subsequently developed to investigate these inputs, using the legal mandate of EMF as basis. Each case was rated for compliance with the quality criteria using a six–level rating schedule. Further analyses were made by comparing the performance of cases against one another. Public participation emerged as the weakest component of EMF practice, while aspects of sensitivity analysis also performed weaker than other aspects. More focus is required on aligning scales and resolutions of map inputs, mapping methods and general integration of spatial data, especially those of adjoining districts. The need to substantiate a rationale for buffer determination also requires further refinement. The practice of conducting EMF is well established and it can be valuable in sustainable development planning and decisionmaking. Recommendations to enhance the sustainability outcomes and hence effectiveness of this instrument are made, as well as future research objectives for increasing its utility. / Thesis (M. Environmental Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.