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Efficient use of the water resource requires internalization of all costs in the price of water, including environmental and resource costs. However, water resource management tends to be highly political and increasing water prices are a sensitive and complicated policy matter. Hence, there is a need for increased understanding of the implementation process and the attitudes towards implementation among the general public. This paper explores the spatial heterogeneity in the public attitude towards internalizing environmental and resource costs in the price of water across the EU regions. Within an extensive spatial dataset constructed for the purpose, we estimate the effect of individual information levels and affordability concerns on the attitude towards environmental water pricing. Information about water problems is found to have a significant and positive effect on attitudes as is affordability concern, which may be explained by expectations of inequity measures to come in place in parallel with increasing water prices. Overall these results support the hypothesis that lack of information and affordability concern could lead to resistance towards efficient water pricing among the general public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our responsibility for the natural environment goes beyond the individual awareness; it reaches the legal domains of the Nation-States and the global interrelation of the different legal systems. In this article, two systems are analysed and compared, with a special focus on the role of good administration principles, and in particular on the bottom-up participation to the decision-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between governance and representation is examined using the development of river basin management plans (RBMPs) in Scotland as a case study. We used a longitudinal ethnographic approach to explore the (1) remit and rationale for representation choices; (2) representative characteristics and claims; and (3) influence of nonparticipating interests on representatives. The invite-only 'advisory group' members represent a network of state, private, and third-sector interests. The members make claims to represent others on the basis of authority, accountability, shared identity, and epistemic values. These claims are made for specific although often multiple and overlapping constituencies. These representation claims suggest that representative, rather than traditional, legitimacy is being defended. However, members were also concerned about how the RBMP advisory groups coexisted with traditional and direct democratic processes. The results need to be considered within the overall system of environmental governance within Scotland, the UK, and Europe. The findings are relevant to multiple fields of environmental management, including protected area management and coastal management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the trend towards implementation of environmental initiatives in the maritime and port sector. The introduction of environmental thinking and green management has been analysed to better understand the impacts on European ports. Moreover, drivers influencing port's environmental initiatives and their adoption were analysed empirically on the case of port of Koper which is classified as one of the leading environmentally friendly European ports. Based on an in-deep analysis of developed measures a wider used approach has been proposed which might be used as a platform by the ports in the region and also by other fast developing ports. It is obvious that ports will be forced to implement environmental objects in their long-term development plan. Obtained cognitions should help them to develop a scenario for faster introduction of objects and measures to obtain the status of a green port and follow sustainable development in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2009, Siemens (Germany) sponsored the research by the Economist Intelligence Unit (London), which resulted in the publication of the European Green City Index report, in which the environmental performance of 30 large cities in Europe was analysed. It provided city administrations with an idea of where they stoodvis-à-vistheir European counterparts. However, while adopting such performance evaluation methodologies, it is important to set targets and goals, and to be aware of pitfalls that may exist in the course of a blind pursuit of a higher Green Score. City administrations are usually segmented into different divisions and departments; often each division strives towards its own set of targets and goals, without being aware (or without being concerned, even if it is aware) of the overlaps, conflicts and synergies that may exist with the targets and goals of the others. The Green City Index needs to be considered together with an Urban Socio-Economic Index, which can be suitably structured with the inter-linkages with the indicators of the Green City Index explicitly described. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Environmental Liability Directive (ELD) establishes a framework of liability based on the ‘polluter-pays’ principle to prevent and remedy environmental damage. The ELD requires the testing of appropriate equivalency methods to assess the scale of compensatory measures needed to offset damage. The aim of this paper is to contribute to fill the existing knowledge gap on the application of the value equivalency approach for damage compensation in this context. We analyze the toxic spill damaging the Doñana National Park (Spain) in 1998. The welfare losses associated with the resource damage are estimated using non-market valuation and compared to the value of the compensatory measures taken after the accident. Our results show that the in-kind compensation may have been insufficient to offset the welfare losses. We conclude that a more comprehensive knowledge of the human welfare effects caused by environmental damage is of substantial importance to determine compensatory remediation, as insufficient information in this respect can lead to erroneous decisions causing loss to society. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The aim of this special volume is to critically examine the various ways in which floods and flood management are framed in current policies, especially the “space for rivers” policies that have been adopted in many countries of Western Europe. The articles in this volume discuss different aspects of this framing, while employing different theoretical frames. Of these, Spiral Dynamics stands out as the most intriguing and least known. The papers thereby potentially contribute to reframing policy contents and/or procedures: either because they show alternative policy contents and/or because they show different ways of looking at policy making. This introductory article provides an overview of what framing means in a policy-making context, thereby highlighting the politics of engaging in (re)framing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UNEP- Resolutions 168Commission on Sustainable Development- Keynote Address (Al Gore) 183UN/ECE- Lucerne Declaration 185- Lucerne Conference - Conclusions from the Questionnaire regarding seven environmental conventions 187 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kenya- Constitutional Approach to Sustainable Environmental Management: Experience and Challenge (Kenneth K. Orie) 43Tanzania- Marine Pollution and the Legal Regime governing the Protection and Preservation of Marine Environment (Aggrey K.L.J. Mlimuka) 52Uruguay- The Law of Environmental Impact Assessment (Margariños de Mello) 73Canada/USA- Oil Spill Prevention 75UK- Oil Pollution Damage 75Czech Republic- Environment Plan Rejected 76New Zealand- Costs of Compliance 76 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]