Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management

Recently, a leading manufacturer of veterinary medicines applied the LCA approach to the production and use of an immunological product for male pigs for the reduction of boar taint. The LCA study involved the facilities where the immunological product is manufactured, a sample at global level of farms where it is used and where the standard method of physical castration for boar taint reduction is adopted to define a benchmark and, finally, a sample of abbattoirs where the final product (pork) is produced for human consumption. The analysis was carried out for two doses of immunological product that is necessary to reduce boar taint in the male pig and, additionally, for the unit mass of pig (so called "live-weight), pig carcass and boneless/fatless pork meat (so called "lean meat"). The saving of carbon footprint respect to the physically castrated pig system is 3.7% in terms of kg live-weight. All the other life-cycle impact indicators show a reduction relative to the benchmark system (physical castration) as well. Scope of this paper is to present the results of this LCA study; complete results are also reported in the publicly available Environmental Product Declaration (http://www.environdec.com)

The desire to demonstrate performance with respect to sustainable development has led to a profusion of approaches. The widespread use of quantitative indicators often appears unconnected to any theory of sustainable development. One reason for this disconnect is that theoretical treatments have tended to focus on global and national scales whereas practical attempts to report on sustainable development tend to operate at smaller scales such as regions, industries and corporations. The relevance of existing theory to those reporting at smaller scales is not widely recognised. This paper develops an approach to reporting that is motivated by a theoretical interpretation of sustainable development in terms of assets. The approach is illustrated with a hypothetical example. The asset-based approach can be applied in a variety of contexts (national, regional, industry, corporation and product) and provides a common framework for linking what have been regarded as disparate approaches to reporting on sustainable development. The recognition that different players have responsibilities for different mixes of assets is the key to understanding how performance should be measured and how information can be combined to report at different scales.

Ecosystem management requires understanding society's goals for an ecosystem and managing for some optimal solution. Unlike terrestrial ecosystem managers, coastal and marine ecosystem management seldom integrates across sectors or scientific disciplines to achieve desired social benefits. An Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) considers the ecosystem (including humans) as a unit and can assist in setting goals, determining an ecosystem's ability to support ecological processes and society's desires, and predicting the outcome of alternatives. The use of Coupled Ecological-Societal Systems Models utilised within the Integrated Assessment and Ecosystem Management Protocol (IAEMP) allows managers to extend a graphical picture of risk hypotheses to forecast scenarios that can be analysed relative to management goals. Scenarios predicted to meet management goals are evaluated against management constraints to select the "optimal" option for a management action in an adaptive management process. The IAEMP thus helps characterise potential causes of environmental problems, select appropriate response options, and implement and evaluate the selected option, thereby either addressing the concern or improving the ecosystem model for future decisions.

In 2004, the US Forest Service launched the Spatial Analysis Project (SAP) to determine whether lands enrolled in the Forest Stewardship Program meet state stewardship objectives. Within each state, SAP used an aggregate analysis to categorise all land available for the FSP as — low, medium, or high stewardship potential. We characterized differences in land classified by the SAP in the study area, and determined if states have been effectively enrolling lands in the high category. Results indicate that while states are enrolling high stewardship potential lands (p < 0.0001), prioritising among forest lands is difficult because nearly all of it is classified as high or medium stewardship potential. We suggest prioritising forested areas using ranking criteria that are more closely associated with state forestry priorities, a strategy that could be adapted to increase the impact of limited public forest stewardship resources outside of the region as well.

This paper investigates the participatory reconstruction approach as a means of home loss mitigation strategy for coping with disaster among survivors of the 2003 Bam earthquake. It addresses the housing issue using the sense of place measures to understand households' feelings about their lost and new homes. On the basis of a fieldwork survey, the probability method of stratified sampling is applied to select the target group of 186 households. Findings show a significant correlation between expressions of positive feelings about new homes and the degree of participation in reconstruction. By encompassing demographic characteristics with the above terms, the results have been interpreted to identify the deeper aspects of home for those living in a newly built one that differs a lot from the lost one.

Oil and gas industry has been considered as one of the leading industries in supporting corporate social responsibility (CSR), however, this industry is also known for being big emitters and polluters of the environment. Oil and gas industry in Sudan is of no exception of their counterparts around the world. This paper aims to investigate whether the regulatory frameworks in Sudan might drive oil and gas companies to be environmentally and socially responsible. The main findings of the paper are as follows. The legal frameworks in this area are not updated and many emerging items needed to be covered, such as those pertaining to environmental issues resulting from offshore exploration(s). Moreover, there is a lack of coordination and cooperation between the concerned governmental institutions that might be due to the confusions over their respective responsibilities. These institutions are under-employed and lack the capacity building to perform their responsibilities effectively and efficiently. Furthermore, there is a limited participation of the local community in the decision making process of petroleum development in Sudan. Finally, it was found that the big sizes of the concession blocks in Sudan make it difficult for the authorities to control and monitor the operations of the companies in terms of their effects to the environment and the local community.

The absence of Regional Strategic Environmental Assessment (R-SEA) in Canada's western Arctic has raised many questions concerning the country's preparedness for offshore Arctic energy development, given the constraints of project assessments in addressing long-term cumulative impacts of energy development on the marine environment and local communities. There has been much interest in R-SEA in recent years, and a growing body of research on the benefits of strategic approaches to environmental assessment, but relatively little attention has been given to implementation. This paper examines key opportunities for and challenges to the implementation of R-SEA in Canada's western Arctic. Results reinforce concerns that the current approach to environmental assessment in Canada's western Arctic is insufficient to address expanding offshore energy development. However, results also indicate several challenges to be addressed to advance R-SEA in the offshore environment including governance, stakeholder resistance to a futures-based approach, the timing of implementation, managing the diversity of expectations about R-SEA, and the nature and scope of alternatives assessment.

This paper assesses the discount in property values due to proximity to brownfields using a spatial hedonic price model. Using two Bayesian hedonic pricing models, namely the spatial lag of X (SLX) model and the spatial Durbin error model (SDEM), this study identifies a significant decrease in property values for properties located within 2,000 feet of a brownfield. The loss in property value and the subsequent decrease in tax revenue for the City of Cincinnati, Ohio, are then calculated based on these results. Using logarithmic transformations of the property value and the distance to the nearest brownfield variables, we calculate that a 1% increase in the average distance to the closest brownfield leads to a 0.0893% increase in market value. This translates into a $2,262,569 total annual revenue loss for the City of Cincinnati that could presumably be recovered following brownfield cleanup. In addition to accounting for the phenomenon of spatial dependence, this study contributes to the urban planning and environmental policy literature by providing a method for local policy-makers to identify and estimate the negative effects of brownfield sites on local tax revenue.