Long-term behavior of particulate matters at urban roadside and background locations in Seoul,Korea

The concentrations of particulate matter, PM_2.5, PM₁₀, and TSP at an urban roadside and an urban background station are analyzed. Data collected over a 10 year period are analyzed. The concentrations of the particulates measured at the urban site are systematically larger than at the background station. The mean PM values at the former also exhibit a slight fall over the decade unlike those at the background station. Overall, the particulate matters at both locations are in an intermediate range of global level, e.g., approximately two times lower than those in other Asian regions but higher than in Europe.     

The environmental effects of airline carbon emissions taxation in the US

This study investigates how air traffic emissions taxes may impact carbon emissions in the US. The magnitude of emissions savings in the US domestic airline industry that would result from lower demand for air travel as taxes are levied and air fares increase is estimated. At the same time, the air-automobile substitution effect is considered and it is argued that some air travelers may divert to automobiles, thus increasing automobile carbon emissions. Both the analysis of the aggregate US domestic airline industry and the study of a sample of US domestic route markets indicate that potentially sizeable increases in automobile traffic and related emissions may substantially reduce the environmental benefits of air travel carbon emissions taxes. In some instances, carbon emissions may even increase in short-haul markets. Sensitivity analyses are performed to demonstrate the robustness of these findings.     

Causal linkages between highways and sector-level employment

While transport infrastructure investments have usually been viewed to have long-term impacts on employment, what is perhaps not immediately clear is the direction of causality. This paper has sought to disentangle the causal relationship between highway infrastructure and employment, using panel data for the 48 contiguous US states from 1984 to 1997. Of particular emphasis in this analysis is the sectoral differences in the causal and spatial effects of highway capacity expansions for employment growth in alternative sectors of the economy. The results indicate that lane-mile additions of own-state major highways could increase state employment growth in the services sector while reducing growth in manufacturing. However, the causal relationship is also found to work the other way around. That is, both the rapid growth in services employment and the slowdown in manufacturing jobs temporally lead to increases in roadway capacity of non-interstate major roads. Our analysis also shows that highway infrastructure could produce both positive and negative employment spillovers across states. We find that improvements in non-interstate major roads outside the state border are beneficial to the manufacturing sector which generally serves regional and national markets. For the services sector, however, employment gains from interstate highways in the same state may come at the expense of other states as there is clear evidence of negative employment spillovers from interstate lane-mile additions.     

Historic Monuments Threatened by Coastal Hazards at Boca do Rio,Algarve, Portugal

The coastal stretch of Boca do Rio, western Algarve, Portugal, is experiencing shoreline retreat. Roman ruins are located along the beach section of the coast, and a 17th-century fort is positioned over the cliff section. Both historic monuments are being destroyed by erosion but need to be protected due to their heritage status. Aerial photograph analysis was used to define the evolution of the coast for the period 1945–2001. Shoreline retreat of 0.3 m/year was measured for the sandy coast and 14 mass movements in the cliff face were identified. Considering the rate and style of shoreline evolution, several types of management scenario were evaluated, with the favored measures being the removal of the Roman ruins to a museum and the relocation of the fort inland.     

MINOE: A Software Tool to Analyze Ocean Management Efforts in the Context of Ecosystems

Transitioning ocean governance into an integrated ecosystem-based approach requires improved knowledge of existing governance arrangements. This article presents a software tool, MINOE, to assist policymakers, scientists, and others involved in ecosystem-based management initiatives to navigate through management documents as they relate to a user-defined ecosystem. The tool uses a conceptually modeled ecosystem, defined by the user, and text analysis of a set of management-related documents to determine which ecosystem linkages are potentially acknowledged in the documents. For illustration, the set of documents included with MINOE currently (and used to demonstrate the software in this article) are laws and regulations from four geopolitical jurisdictions for the year 2006; however, users may also import other documents for a more tailored application. Features include an interactive matrix containing results about the set of management documents within the user's scope and scale of interest. In addition, MINOE includes metrics and visualization tools to synthesize information derived from the documents. The article presents the software tool, describes potential uses for the tool, and ends with a discussion of future work to expand the program.     

Public opinion and the environment: Ecology,the coastal zone,and public policy

Abstract

In a public opinion survey conducted in Santa Barbara county, California, respondents were interviewed regarding their feelings on coastal zone development, within a context of broader environmental and political issues.

A high degree of expressed concern for the environment was found, but the data also indicate a widespread reluctance to allocate a greater share of personal income to improve environmental quality.

Among the issues dealt with are citizen views on environmental problems, the effectiveness of government in the environmental field, offshore oil drilling, and coastal zone development.

The results show that on each of the issues analyzed, a person's education, age, and the extent of his political participation are the major factors which determine his concern for the environment. Additional variables appear to have some significance in determining attitudes toward local environmental projects and perceptions of government.

Offered are implications of the findings for the future of organized action on environmental problems.     

Current operational urban land‐use–transport modelling frameworks: A review

Various alternative frameworks are available for modelling urban land‐use–transport interaction. This paper provides a detailed review of six of these frameworks that have been or are currently being used to develop operational models. The intention is to indicate what is the general nature of the current state of practice and what is now available for practical modelling work in the area. The intention is also to compare the current state of practice with what might be the ideal in various respects. The six frameworks reviewed (ITLUP, MEPLAN, TRANUS, MUSSA, NYMTC‐LUM and UrbanSim) are considered in terms of their representations of physical systems, decision‐makers and processes, along with various more general modelling and implementation issues. None matches the ideal as envisaged here in all respects. However, a wide range of policy considerations can be handled explicitly with what is available, and more recent developments show an encouraging trend towards expansion in the scope of what can be considered. Further strengthening of the behavioural basis and relaxation of some of the more restrictive assumptions would appear to be both appropriate and likely in the future.     

Marine Stingers: Review of an Under-Recognized Global Coastal Management Issue

Dangerous marine stingers (jellyfish) are an emotive issue in tropical Australia, where they are widely regarded as the number one marine health threat. However, numerous severe and fatal stings have been reported throughout the tropical and temperate seas of the world, indicating that marine stingers are a global health problem. Further, life-threatening jellyfish stings are more frequently reported globally now compared to earlier decades, possibly as a result of improved recognition and reporting, or increased spatial and/or temporal distribution or densities. As stinging incidents may also have significant financial implications (lost tourism revenues and liability settlements), and the treatment of envenomed patients comes at high cost to the taxpayer, this issue is also a management challenge. This article outlines suggested approaches, based largely on Australian experience, for dealing with this under-recognized global coastal management issue.     

Western Australia's nonstatutory approach to coastal zone management: An evaluation

Abstract

Western Australia is fortunate that there have been few natural disasters on the coast. However, low levels of coastal erosion during the 1970s demonstrated the need to establish coastal zone management in that state of Australia. The erosion was quickly contained because private ownership to the high water mark is almost nonexistent, private property being set back behind coastal reserves along most of the coast. The provision of coastal reserves has been part of a deliberate nonstatutory coastal planning and management approach. As a result Western Australia has been able to use existing acts, coordination between existing government agencies, and coastal policies rather than enact specific coastal legislation to manage the coast.