Suchergebnisse

The opposition between nature and boundaries is well known : whereas nature knows no boundaries, public law is spatially structured by boundaries. However, such an opposition is currently being overcome under the influence of several factors. First, environmental law creates new boundaries that are no longer modelled on human boundaries but on nature ones. The notions of ecological zoning and above all ecological network illustrate this trend. Then, environmental law uses transboundary cooperation to mitigate the effects of boundaries on nature. Eventually, a complementarity is asserted between environmental law and infra-State transboundary cooperation law. The right to cooperate has been recognized to regional and local authorities and to public establishments responsible for nature conservation. Besides, relatively appropriate tools have been made available for cooperation in nature conservation. Nevertheless, this complementarity is being tested by the significant differences that may exist between national laws of neighbouring countries and, above all, by the lack of accountability of infra-State cooperation actors with respect to international environmental obligations. Thus, within transboundary environmental law, the emerging sector of transboundary nature is not as mature as the older one related to transboundary pollutions. ; Les relations entre la nature et les frontières sont traditionnellement conçues comme antagonistes : tandis que la nature ne connaîtrait pas de frontières, le droit public est, d'un point de vue spatial, structuré par les frontières. Le dépassement d'une telle opposition est cependant engagé, sous l'influence de plusieurs facteurs. D'abord, le droit de l'environnement crée ses propres frontières, indépendantes des frontières humaines et calquées sur celles de la nature. Les notions de zonage écologique et, surtout, de réseau écologique participent de ce mouvement. Ensuite, le droit de l'environnement recourt à la coopération transfrontalière, comme technique d'effacement fonctionnel de la frontière politique. Enfin, une complémentarité s'affirme entre le droit de l'environnement et le droit de la coopération transfrontalière infra-étatique. Le droit de coopérer a été reconnu aux collectivités territoriales et aux établissements publics compétents en matière de conservation de la nature, et des outils de coopération relativement adaptés à ce domaine ont été mis à leur disposition. Toutefois, une telle complémentarité est mise à l'épreuve par les différences importantes qui peuvent subsister entre les droits nationaux d'Etats frontaliers et, surtout, par la responsabilisation insuffisante des acteurs de la coopération infra-étatique face aux obligations internationales environnementales. Ainsi, au sein du droit de l'environnement transfrontalier, le secteur émergent de la nature transfrontalière n'est pas encore aussi mature que celui, plus ancien, des pollutions transfrontières.

This innovative interdisciplinary study focuses on the history, science, and policy of tree planting and water conservation in South Africa. South Africa's forestry sector has sat—often controversially—at the crossroads of policy and scientific debates regarding water conservation, economic development, and biodiversity protection. Bennett and Kruger show how debates about the hydrological impact of exotic tree planting in South Africa shaped the development of modern scientific ideas and state policies relating to timber plantations, water conservation, invasive species control, and biodiversity management within South Africa as well as elsewhere in the world. Forestry and Water Conservation in South Africa shows how scientific research on the impact of exotic and native vegetation led to the development of a comprehensive national policy for conserving water, producing timber, and protecting indigenous species from invasive alien plants. Policies and laws relating to forests and water began to change in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a result of political and administrative changes within South Africa. This book suggests that the country's contemporary policies towards timber plantations, guided by the National Water Act of 1998, need to be reconsidered in light of the authors' findings. Bennett and Kruger also call for more interdisciplinary research and greater emphasis on integrated policies and management plans for forestry, invasive alien plants, water conservation, and biodiversity preservation.

International nature conservation programs were originally driven by field biologists. As environment has assumed increasing prominence on the international political agenda, the role of biologists has been marginalised. International programs now have ambitious targets set by politicians and aspire to save the world.There is a need to balance these global environmental initiatives with a set of shorter-term practical actions to maximise biodiversity conservation. Biological scientists can cooperate with other natural resource specialists and social scientists in defining more targeted cost-effective nature conservation programs. A case is made for the Prince Bernhard Chair at the University of UTRECHT to focus on this interface between science and conservation practices.

Throughout the world, areas have been reserved for their exceptional environmental values, such as high biodiversity. Financial, political and community support for these protected areas is often dependent on visitation by nature-based tourists. This visitation inevitably creates environmental impacts, such as the construction and maintenance of roads, tracks and trails ; trampling of vegetation and erosion of soils ; and propagation of disturbance of resilient species, such as weeds. This creates tension between the conservation of environmental values and visitation. This review examines some of the main features of environmental impacts by nature-based tourists through a discussion of observational and manipulative studies. It explores the disturbance context and unravels the management implications of detecting impacts and understanding their causes. Regulation of access to visitor areas is a typical management response, qualified by the mode of access (e.g., vehicular, ambulatory). Managing access and associated impacts are reviewed in relation to roads, tracks and trails ; wildlife viewing ; and accommodations. Responses to visitor impacts, such as environmental education and sustainable tour experiences are explored. The review concludes with ten recommendations for further research in order to better resolve the tension between nature conservation and nature-based tourism.

Public talk organisé par le Center on Science and Society de Columbia University, NYC ; Carbon markets, water quality credits, and mitigation banks are emerging forms of economic exchanges promoted and facilitated by governments as a new means to achieve environmental sustainability. Conservation banks are one of these: based on the regulatory principle of "no net loss" of endangered species on the US territory, they consist in the production and exchange of "species credits" bought by economic developers whose activities impact habitats and species. Neither restraining economic development nor ignoring its negative aspects, environmental banks are trade-offs between economic growth and conservation, cautiously regulated by State and federal agencies. Their expansion reflects a new relationship between environmental sciences, markets, financial instruments and public regulations that ought to be questioned: where does scientific work stand in the making of a market-based policy? Sociology of science provides insights showing how the macro-level of policy design allows for negotiations between scientific accuracy and economic efficiency at the micro-level of policy implementation.

Public talk organisé par le Center on Science and Society de Columbia University, NYC ; Carbon markets, water quality credits, and mitigation banks are emerging forms of economic exchanges promoted and facilitated by governments as a new means to achieve environmental sustainability. Conservation banks are one of these: based on the regulatory principle of "no net loss" of endangered species on the US territory, they consist in the production and exchange of "species credits" bought by economic developers whose activities impact habitats and species. Neither restraining economic development nor ignoring its negative aspects, environmental banks are trade-offs between economic growth and conservation, cautiously regulated by State and federal agencies. Their expansion reflects a new relationship between environmental sciences, markets, financial instruments and public regulations that ought to be questioned: where does scientific work stand in the making of a market-based policy? Sociology of science provides insights showing how the macro-level of policy design allows for negotiations between scientific accuracy and economic efficiency at the micro-level of policy implementation.

Come with us on a journey around the Swedish landscape and countryside – to mountain heaths, surging rivers and spongy mires, into ancient forests, through meadows and oak landscapes all the way out to the Baltic and North Seas and their archipelagos.In this brochure we inform people about society's commitment to protecting the natural environment. It also gives some examples of areas that have been protected since the Swedish Parliament set environmental objectives in order to achieve a favourable natural environment in Sweden 1999. In the year 1909, the Swedish Parliament passed an act relating to National Parks in order to protect the natural environment for the benefit of science and tourism. Protecting the environment by site protection according to the environmental code is vital in order to preserve valuable nature in Sweden for future generations. Welcome to the natural world!

Aim: Rarity—an important measure for conservation biogeography—can vary over many orders of magnitude. However, it is unclear which regional-scale abiotic conditions drive processes affecting rarity of endemic species on islands. To support conservation efforts, we (1) assess the main abiotic drivers of endemic rarity, (2) determine how well existing protected areas (PAs) coincide with hotspots of endemic rarity and (3) introduce and evaluate a new hypervolume-based rarity estimator. Location: La Palma (Canary Islands). Methods: We recorded all present endemic vascular plant species in 1,212 plots covering the entire island. We calculated endemic rarity (corrected range-rarity richness for endemics) using a rarity estimation approach based on kernel density estimations (hypervolume approach). We performed a sensitivity analysis based on multiple linear regressions and relative importance estimations of environmental drivers to estimate the performance of the hypervolume-based rarity estimation compared to standard methods (occurrence frequency, convex hulls, alpha hulls). Results: Climate variables (mean annual temperature, climatic rarity, precipitation variability) best explained archipelago endemic (AE) and single-island endemic (SIE) rarity. Existing PAs covered the majority of AE and SIE rarity, especially national and natural parks as well as the Natura 2000 sites. In our study system, hypervolumes performed better than standard measures of range size. Main conclusion: Both AE and SIE rarity on La Palma show a clear spatial pattern, with hotspots of endemic rarity found at high elevations and in rare climates, presumably owing to geographical and climatic constraints and possibly anthropogenic pressure (e.g., land use, introduced herbivores, fire). Areas of high rarity estimates coincide with the distribution and extent of PAs on La Palma, especially since the recent addition of the Natura 2000 sites. The hypervolume approach is a promising tool to estimate species range sizes, and can be applied on all scales where point/plot data are available. ; European Union ; Elite Network of Bavaria

Multinational corporations are not merely the problem in environmental concerns, but could also be part of the solution. The oil industry and climate change provide the clearest example of how the two are linked; what is less well-known is how the industry is responding to these concerns. This volume presents a detailed study of the climate strategies of ExxonMobil, Shell and Statoil. With an innovative analytical approach, the authors explain variations at three decision-making levels: within the companies themselves, in the national home-bases of the companies, and at an international level. The analysis generates policy-relevant knowledge about whether and how corporate resistance to a viable climate policy can be overcome. The analytical approach developed by the authors is also applicable to other areas of environmental degradation where multinational corporations play a central role. The book is invaluable to students, researchers and practitioners interested in national and international environmental politics and business environmental management.

"New initiatives recognize that resource wealth can provide a means, when properly used, for poorer nations to decisively break with poverty by diversifying economies and funding development spending. Extractive Industries: The Management of Resources as a Driver of Sustainable Development explores the challenges and opportunities facing developing countries in using oil, gas, and mining to achieve inclusive change. While resource wealth can yield prosperity it can also, when mismanaged, cause acute social inequality, deep poverty, environmental damage, and political instability. There is a new determination to improve the benefits of extractive industries to their host countries, and to strengthen the sector's governance. Extractive Industries provides a comprehensive contribution to what must be done in this sector to deliver development, protect often fragile environments from damage, enhance the rights of affected communities, and support climate change action. It brings together international experts to offer ideas and recommendations in the main policy areas. With a breadth of collective insight and experience, it argues that more attention must be given to the development role of extractive industries, and looks to the future to explain how action on climate change will profoundly shape the sector's prospects."

The thesis deals with the question of why no international legally binding instrument for forest policy exists so far. The thesis shows that the problem definition presents a form of control for the decision making process and for the problem solution. Therefore, it is demonstrated how locations, reports and non-human objects are related to the development of international forest policy within United Nations. In the development of international forest policy, the policy problem was framed as "deforestation and degradation of tropical forests". In the second phase of policy formulation, the "deforestation and degradation of all forests" moves to the centre of interests. The thesis analyses furthermore the formation of meaning of the policy narratives that are intertwined with international forest policy. The identification of global environmental discourses that transfer a certain kind of meaning of policy and of problem solution, that operate with discursive practices and technologies of power, and that use rhetorical devices, allows to show which rules and practices influence how natural resource policy arises. In this way it can be shown how policy problems come into being and how they are understood. Furthermore, it allows identifying policy change in a non-decision-making process.

It is estimated that every year the world's population uses 1.5 times the planet's renewable resources. This trend can only increase as the middle classes everywhere are growing and extreme poverty is decreasing. In this context, the circular economy is attracting growing interest from citizens, entrepreneurs, governments and the academic world. To avoid the depletion of natural resources, this economy of "tomorrow" proposes the intensification of recycling - even the end of waste -, sustainable management of resources, collective policies governing production, as well as the use of goods and services. services rather than private policies that promote ownership and unlimited growth. This book, written under the auspices of the Institute for the Environment, Sustainable Development and the Circular Economy (EDDEC), presents the reflections of 50 experts, particularly in environment, industrial or chemical engineering, management, but also in economics, geography, anthropology and philosophy. In an accessible language, it takes stock of the need to turn to a model that respects nature and specifies the stakes of the survival of humanity.

Environmental pollution poses serious challenges for China, including to its economy as well as public health. The China Story Yearbook 2015: Pollution looks at how China's Communist Party-state addresses these problems and how Chinese citizens have coped with and expressed their concerns about living with chronic, worsening pollution. This Yearbook also explores the broader ramifications of pollution in the People's Republic for culture, society law and social activism, as well as the Internet, language, thought, and approaches to history. It looks at how it affects economic and political developments, urban change, and China's regional and global posture. The Chinese Communist Party, led by 'Chairman of Everything' Xi Jinping, meanwhile, has subjected mainland society to increasingly repressive control in its new determination to rid the country of Western 'spiritual pollutants' while achieving cultural purification through 'propaganda and ideological work'. To adulterate, contaminate, spoil or violate—these are among the metaphorical and literal connotations of pollution expressed in this Yearbook via the character ran 染, which forms part of the word for pollution in Chinese, wuran 污染. As the world increasingly relies on economic ties with China, the complexities of China's one-party system and the Chinese government's attitudes towards 'pollution' are of increasing global significance.

Seit dem ausgehenden 19. Jahrhundert gelten die Alpen als schützenswert. Naturschützerinnen und Landschaftsschützer aus den Städten im »Flachland« versuchten, die Flora und Fauna sowie das Landschaftsbild in den Alpen zu konservieren – bis in den 1980er Jahren junge Aktivistinnen und Aktivisten aus den Alpenregionen selbst begannen, die wirtschaftlichen Entwicklungen im Alpenraum vor dem Hintergrund der »Grenzen des Wachstums« zu hinterfragen. Sie forderten Selbstbestimmung über ihren Lebens- und Wirtschaftsraum mitsamt seiner Naturschönheit und kulturellen Eigenständigkeit. Ihre Debatten standen im Kontext der Diskussionen über die Rolle der Alpen als »Naturraum« in Europa und waren eng verwoben mit dem Prozess der Europäischen Integration. Rasch wurden die Alpen zum Europäischen Politikum. Das vorliegende Buch bettet diese Politisierung(en), ihre Akteurinnen und Akteure, die transnationalen Netzwerke und Diskurse in ihre Geschichte ein.

Nachhaltigkeit gilt als erstrebenswertes gesellschaftliches Ziel. Doch wie der Weg in eine nachhaltige Zukunft aussehen soll, ist umstritten. Als spannungsvoll erweist sich nicht nur das Verhältnis zwischen den verschiedenen politischen Steuerungskonzepten und wissenschaftlichen Modellbildungen. Auch die Frage, wer im Zusammenspiel aus Politik, Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft und Zivilgesellschaft für eine nachhaltigkeitsorientierte Transformation der Gesellschaft zuständig ist, wirft Kontroversen auf.Der Band rückt mit dem Begriff der Responsibilisierung die Frage nach der Zuschreibung von Verantwortung in den Mittelpunkt und diskutiert die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen individueller und kollektiver Verantwortung für nachhaltige Entwicklung.