Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management

The 1992 United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development Summit underscored the need to conduct environmental sustainability evaluations. Such evaluations are important as they communicate the relationship between natural resources extraction and environmental regenerative capacity. We use the Ecological Footprint tool to evaluate the environmental sustainability of grazing landuse for Chirumanzu District of Zimbabwe. Empirical evidence presented here relates to livestock data obtained from the Veterinary Department and a sample household survey. Results revealed the presence of a large ecological reserve, depicting sustainable utilization of environmental resources. Further unravelling of the results, however, revealed under utilisation of the available biocapacity. Livestock-limited environmentally sustainable is the concept used to describe this scenario. Further interpretation of the large ecological reserve indicates insecure land tenure system, low livestock ownership and difficult economic hardships faced by resettled farmers. The paper recommends that the government adopts policies that encourage the development of a sustainable livestock sector.

The aim of this article is to review the current practice of EIA system in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, EIA has been practiced for more than fifteen years. However, there is a lack of scientific information about the current practice of EIA in Bangladesh. This article focused and reviewed three key areas of EIA system in Bangladesh: institutional arrangement, quality of EISs and implementation of mitigation measures. By using a set of good practice criteria, this article finds that still there are shortcomings in current EIA practice despite that fact that EIA practice in Bangladesh has been improving over the last fifteen years. This means Bangladesh could not harness the full benefit of EIA yet. This article suggest that in order to harness the full benefits of EIA, adequate implementation of mitigation measures is imperative while improving the capacity of proponents, regulatory agency and the quality of EIS.

Forests cover approximately one-third of the global landscape and provide many ecosystem services. Both aboveground and belowground ecosystems together comprise a complete forest. Despite the fact that belowground ecosystems play an essential role in forest functioning, belowground systems are far less well studied and understood. Increasing knowledge of belowground ecosystems provides a more complete understanding of forest environments and advances ecosystem restoration efforts. There are many ways to redirect focus belowground; this paper proposes three examples: first, increase focus within the scientific community; second, incorporate belowground conservation in forest management policies; and third, recognize the sequestration capacity of belowground ecosystems as a climate change mitigation tool.

Environmental assessment and management (EAM) is an inherently interdisciplinary subject, drawing on science (e.g. ecology, biology, physical geography), social science (e.g. decision making theory, political sciences, planning) and economics. Due to the absence of a clear disciplinary home, understanding of EAM related higher education degree programmes has remained poor. Furthermore, teaching of EAM is influenced by how it is practiced and therefore differs from country to country. The aim of this paper is to shed light on this still under researched area by establishing a comprehensive overview of EAM related master level degree programmes across the EU. In this context, current baseline and emerging trends as well as challenges and opportunities are presented and discussed. The paper is aimed specifically at those interested in EAM higher education, e.g. researchers, university teachers and (prospective) students.

Natural ecosystems, including forest ecosystems, continue to be degraded or converted at an alarming rate. To complement or substitute regulatory approaches to ecosystem management, market-based instruments such as "payments for ecosystem services" (PES) have been introduced and are gaining popularity. One of the prominent PES schemes in the world is the Bolsa Floresta Program (BFP) in the State of Amazonas, Brazil. The BFP was established by the Government of the State of Amazonas through its Secretariat for Environment and Sustainable Development in 2006 and is implemented by the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation. The BFP, which is a voluntary program to reduce deforestation and promote sustainable development by rewarding the communities for changing their land use practices, has four main components: the Bolsa Floresta Income; Bolsa Floresta Social; Bolsa Floresta Family; and Bolsa Floresta Association. A study was conducted to assess the preferences of the participating households in three reserves, namely: Rio Negro, Juma, and Uatumã, for different payment packages with varying combinations of the bolsas relative to the status quo option. The discrete choice method and an open ended question format were used to elicit the preferences of the participant households. The discrete choice model results showed that the majority of the respondents (about 80 per cent) in the three reserves chose an alternative which offered a 20 per cent increase in direct cash payments to households as their most preferred alternative. On the other hand, the majority of respondents who were subjected to open question stated that they would like to see an increase in benefits that fall under the Bolsa Floresta Social category.

Despite the central role of valued ecosystem component (VEC) selection to project impact assessment (IA) and cumulative effects assessment (CEA), little is known about what influences it. To potentially improve the efficacy of CEA, a look into the "black box" of VEC selection is warranted. An investigation of eleven road construction project IAs in Canada completed between 1995 and 2011 via document analysis and interviews with project informants reveals a heavy reliance on residual effects analysis for CEA VEC selection, such that project VEC list are often exactly or nearly the same as CEA VEC lists. The process of VEC selection is highly subjective, lacking in scientific inputs, and not as sensitive to cumulative effects issues as it perhaps should be given the nature of road projects. The study concludes that a "residual effects analysis—plus" approach to CEA VEC selection is desirable, along with explicit, possibly sector-specific, guidance.

Numerous water resources planning agencies exist within countries and their states or provinces, or within river basin commissions and local areas. Such planning includes projects involving waterway navigation, hydroelectric power generation, flood risk management, water supply, and ecosystem restoration. Although planning has existed for many decades, new environmental challenges are being identified and responsive methods are being developed. This review cites more than 75 journal articles and reports which are related to emerging frameworks and methods. The most frequently cited information source is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The reader is encouraged to explore these general and topical references and to utilise them in the context of their water resources planning efforts. It is important to note that not all references will be relevant to local unique conditions and challenges. Addressing these expanding emphases requires flexibility within existing planning processes and collaboration with multiple stakeholder groups. Examples of newer methods summarized herein include cumulative effects assessment and management, conceptual models, use of indicators and indices, managing downstream flows, addressing climate change, evaluation of ecosystem services, and post-EIS project monitoring and adaptive management to expand the knowledge base of planners and to adjust project operational patterns to minimise undesirable consequences.

In the field of environmental policy, it is widely accepted that the exploitation of the environment in a rapidly urbanising world needs intervention by policy to meet sustainable development. But which laws, incentives, and awareness raising actions support sustainable development? According to the European Environment Agency, policy-effectiveness can be assessed by evaluating changes in driving forces, pressures, states, responses and impacts. However, these changes can only be measured after implementing responses and often cannot be directly related to specific policies or instruments. Therefore, this article argues that a specific framework is necessary which is introduced by a Response-Efficiency-Assessment (REA). For the methodological approach, the framework is developed through a multi-attribute decision method (MADM) using an analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The framework will be presented using the example of soil sealing management including 48 indicators to assess the efficiency of soil sealing management; one main challenge facing the environmental policy.