Search

Copyright of Papel Político is the property of Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Introduction: Environmental compensation is a technical-legal instrument of environmental management used to offset damage due to non-reversible and unavoidable impacts. Usually, offset regulations are included in national environmental legislations. This paper summarizes environmental compensation legislation in Costa Rica, a country with a recognized conservation tradition and environmental awareness. Our goal is to describe how compensation is formulated in that country and identify possible regulations gaps. Methods: We carried out a systematic review of environmental legislation through the Costa Rican Legal Information System (http://www.pgrweb.go.cr/scij/avanzada_pgr.aspx), considering both regulations and pronouncements on compensation measures and mitigation. Results: The Political Constitution of Costa Rica recognizes a healthy environment as a fundamental right for all citizens. At least seven laws dealing with environmental issues and their respective regulations are currently enforced. This bulky legislation aims to protect natural resources by regulating their use and creating an assemblage of protected wild areas. However, the legislation is somewhat repetitive and open to interpretation, facilitating confusion. Actions requiring compensation are regulated in a general way, making it difficult to establish when and how to apply them. In addition, compensation is considered based on when the damage is identified and not on its level of environmental impact. Furthermore, the regulations do not make explicit the principles and goals that support the compensatory measures or how they should be carried out, briefly mentioning some actions that do not ensure that the net environmental loss is zero. Conclusions: This review reveals the need to standardize the mechanisms to determine compensatory measures at the regulatory level, also analyzing the strategies that will be followed to ensure proportionality and ecological equivalence. The legislation must emphasize the importance of compensation as a positive practice, which must be incorporated within the guidelines of the Environmental Impact Study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The information society is built upon an important technological ground. Its operation requires an IT infrastructure that has been growing during the last decades. In parallel, climate change looms over the future of the planet as a disturbing threat, which demands a social and political response. The widespread perception about technology considers that its environmental impact is scarce. This paper discusses this perception, completing for this purpose a bibliographical review about the negative effects that technological production, consumption and waste produce on the environment in which our societies are developed: this issue has received scant attention to date from the Academe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been more than 40 years that sustainability began to be envisaged in the economic and social horizon.The origin of this concept was the awareness of the depletion of nonrenewable resources (resources extraction), and environmental impact (waste emission) produced by industrial growth. Thus, there was talk of the need to make a rational exploitation of resources in order to be able to meet the 113 needs of the present without compromising future generations. At the same time arose the need to review the concept of development, which had focused on economic variables putting social and environmental variables aside. Because, paradoxically, development usually carries within itself the destruction of natural environment, and its benefits are not reflected in the communities. The myth of the positive action of production focused on earnings and profit had collapsed, and the panorama of social and environmental damage appeared. Currently, there is no doubt about the need to measure the impact of industry on the environment and to promote the rational use of resources. The new challenge is to establish clear strategies for community participation in the benefits of development, as well as the creation of models for measuring ecological impact, and a legal and regulatory framework which encourages, sanctions and monitors sustainable actions. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the dimensions of sustainability in tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper starts with a brief analysis of the environmental contamination in the country and its impact over land waters. The National Program Against Contamination for the period 2009-2015 is presented as an answer to the problem identified in the National Environmental Strategy 2007-2010 (EAN) and the working platform in which all national efforts are integrated in the struggle against this threat. Program objectives and targets are described as well as intended actions. It is concluded that the program is a strategic tool which, by considering conditions, needs and priorities of the country, is capable of successfully confronting the contamination problem of land waters and the other environmental components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to develop indicators that allow us to progress in the evaluation of the sustainable use of water in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. In order to measure sustainability, a systematic model was proposed involving society, institutions, infrastructure and the environment that would allow us to advance in the knowledge about interaction between society and its environment. Progress was achieved in the developing and measurement of some indicators, such as those related to quality of life and current state of water infrastructure and treatment. Using existing data, it was possible to develop and measure the following indicators for the sustainable use of water: 1. secure access to water; 2. access to adequate sanitation systems; 3. domiciliary connections; 4. water price; 5. water consumption, and 6. waste water treatment. Results indicate that the municipal water system of Ciudad Juarez presents good indicators for sustainable use of water, however, they do not take into account the negative rate of recharge extraction of the city's water supply system or of the quality of water for human consumption. The author considers that other indicators related to institutional and legal frame works, citizen participation, water quality, and environmental impact must be developed and estimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper is presented a strategy which objective is to contribute to the development of skills related to the analysis and solution of energetic-environmental problems derived from the steam generation process. This strategy has as main objective the integration of energetic-environmental aspects supported by a training program that simulates in stationary state, the steam generation process, the flue gas treatment systems and quantifies the concentration of the main atmospheric pollutants by means of dispersion models. This way, the engineer can have a better interpretation of the factors that affect the boiler function, with the purpose of obtaining more efficient functioning decreasing environmental damages. The strategy was evaluated and implemented in the Technical University "José Antonio Echeverría" by university students and postgraduate students from the Chemical Engineering Faculty, showing the advantages of its usage in the knowledge acquisition and the development of skills related to the analysis and solution of energetic-environmental problems derived from the steam generation process presented in the steam generation system studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]