Narrow Results

This paper outlines a Decision-Maker's Tool (DM Tool), designed to guide practitioners and their inter-disciplinary teams through a typical strategic environmental assessment (SEA) process. While SEA properly includes post-decision follow-up, the DM Tool covers the SEA process up to the creation of a Briefing Note for the decision maker. Together, use of the DM Tool and the Briefing Note should facilitate positive contributions to sustainability through well considered and aligned policies, plans and programmes (PPPs), by enhancing the comprehensiveness, consistency, clarity, accessibility and credibility of decision making information.

The discussion presumes that the SEA is central to the PPP development process, rather than being a separate exercise. The DM Tool and Briefing Note are designed to recommend PPP action based on clearly stated needs and purposes, addressing the key issues, and application of explicit sustainability criteria in the comparative evaluation of feasible alternatives. Particular attention is paid to recognising trade-offs and residual risks, and presenting all this information concisely for the decision maker.

This paper explores the challenges and lessons from recent practice and experience of applying tools such as Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Sustainability Appraisal at the policy level in the UK and Europe. It investigates whether or not these tools have been effective and helped to deliver more sustainable development at the high level of national policy development. The analysis is illustrated by case examples from the UK, such as Eco-towns and Energy Planning. The paper concludes that the current performance by the UK Government in implementing the SEA Directive for national level strategic actions is far from exemplary. At the root of the problem is the poor consideration and evaluation of reasonable alternatives, the fundamentally weak conception of sustainability adopted and the apparent perception that having to undertake an assessment and comply with the SEA Directive is a hurdle, rather than a useful mechanism for helping to deliver better and more sustainable evidence-based policy making.

There is a growing interest in the potential of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) to mainstream ecosystem services (ES) concerns in decision-making. Experiences in this field have begun to emerge, showing the need for comprehensive guidance. This paper addresses this need by proposing a conceptual approach to integrate ES effectively in SEA. The approach is structured in the following four stages, each comprising specific tasks: establish the ES context; determine and assess priority ES; identify alternatives and assess impacts on ES; follow up on ES. The first stage includes the identification and mapping of ES and beneficiaries for the region affected by the strategic action and the identification of links with other strategic actions. The second stage aims at generating detailed information on a limited set of priority ES, which are considered relevant for shaping and informing the development of the strategic action. This requires determining the priority ES, reviewing existing regulations concerning these services and assessing their baseline conditions and trends. In the third stage, possible alternatives to enhance ES, or at least to minimise negative effects on them, are identified and their impacts assessed. Finally, during the fourth stage, the effects on ES are monitored and managed and the overall quality of the SEA process is tested. The paper concludes by discussing how the stages and their tasks require feedback and interactions and how they can contribute to achieve a better inclusion of concerns about ES (and their beneficiaries) into strategic decisions.

In my essay, I discussed the un-talked-about topic of firework pollution. I also talked about my personal experience in Berlin dealing with the intensity of fireworks, but also the love and excitement the traditions bring. I present solutions to create eco-friendly, sustainable fireworks and alternatives for people wanting to cut out firework usage completely.

This paper explores the challenges and lessons from recent practice and experience of applying tools such as Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Sustainability Appraisal at the policy level in the UK and Europe. It investigates whether or not these tools have been effective and helped to deliver more sustainable development at the high level of national policy development. The analysis is illustrated by case examples from the UK, such as Eco-towns and Energy Planning. The paper concludes that the current performance by the UK Government in implementing the SEA Directive for national level strategic actions is far from exemplary. At the root of the problem is the poor consideration and evaluation of reasonable alternatives, the fundamentally weak conception of sustainability adopted and the apparent perception that having to undertake an assessment and comply with the SEA Directive is a hurdle, rather than a useful mechanism for helping to deliver better and more sustainable evidence-based policy making.

The following sections are included:

• INTRODUCTION

• FOUR KEY ELEMENTS OF A DECISION

• DECISIONS BASED ON EXTREME VALUES
  • Maximin Criterion
  • Minimax Regret Criterion

• EXPECTED MONETARY VALUE AND UTILITY ANALYSIS
  • The Expected Monetary Value Criterion
  • Utility Analysis

• BAYES STRATEGIES
  • Bayesian Approach in Forecasting Interest Rates

• DECISION TREES AND EXPECTED MONETARY VALUES
  • A Decision Tree for Testing a Drilling Site
  • A Decision Tree for Capital Budgeting
  • Utilizing Sample Information to Improve the Determination of Pricing Policy⁴

• MEAN AND VARIANCE TRADE-OFF ANALYSIS
  • The Mean–Variance Rule and the Dominance Principle
  • The Capital Market Line
  • The Capital Asset Pricing Model

• THE MEAN AND VARIANCE METHOD FOR CAPITAL BUDGETING DECISIONS
  • Statistical Distribution of Cash Flow

• Summary

• Appendix 21A Using the Spreadsheet in Decision-Tree Analysis

• Appendix 21B Graphical Derivation of the Capital Market Line

• Appendix 21C Present Value and Net Present Value
  • Present Value
  • Net Present Value

• Appendix 21D Derivation of Standard Deviation for NPV

• Questions and Problems

• Project V Project for Selected Topics in Statistical Analysis

In this paper we study problem of fuzzy scheduling with the given number of activities to minimize the project duration, in which the activities are scheduled subject to generalized precedence relations, require some units of multiple renewable or non-renewable constrained resources with the limited availability, and can be performed in one of several different ways: multiple activity modes or alternatives. Fuzzy branch and bound solution methodology was presented to handle time-varying resource requirements and availabilities, activity ready times, due dates and deadlines, fuzzy activity overlaps, activity start time constraints and other types of temporal constraints.