Search

This paper analyzes a case of environmental activism after one of the largest oil spills in Peruvian Amazonia, the 2014 Cuninico oil spill. A relatively more independent judiciary, environmental legislation, and weak though autonomous regulatory agencies led to a shift in institutional opportunity structure over the previous 20 years. The embryonic environmental state produced evidence of environmental harm and sanctioned state-owned oil enterprise Petroperú. However, that was not enough to produce timely measures to protect the affected communities. Indigenous peoples affected by the spill worked with human rights lawyers and civil society coalitions to bring the company to court. Almost a decade of high court activism has meant a burdensome process of 'lawfare' with important legal triumphs for plaintiffs. In 2020, a historic ruling mandated financial compensation for affected communities. Despite these triumphs, the long wait for the restitution of justice hints at an uncertain future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scholarship on green state transformation has harnessed debates on the empirical and ideal transformations of the state in the Anthropocene, but central banks have thus far been elided from analysis. In this article, we draw into focus central banks as pronounced, if ill-considered, features of green state transformations in both theory and practice. Central banks exemplify the intractability, incrementalism and limitations of actually existing green state transformations. Yet simultaneously, these institutions of economic governance are, at least theoretically, vital constituents of fully fledged green states. In addressing the central bank lacuna in the analysis of green state transformation, we propose a research agenda at the intersection of environmental and monetary politics that centres on (i) the institutional variation and convergence of central banks across the global economy, (ii) the political-economic and institutional constraints on green institutional transformation, and (iii) the theoretical constituents and operations of a truly 'green' central bank. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there are established concepts of the green or environmental state, no clear idea exists of what constitutes a sustainable state and by what standards to evaluate such a state. This article aims to clarify the notion of the sustainable state in terms of a framework of sustainability-oriented meta-governance functions. To this end, a comprehensive idea of sustainability is linked with a meta-governance perspective on the contemporary state. Seven features of sustainability transformation are identified that challenge state governing and that the sustainable state must address in terms of seven meta-governance functions. This systematically derived framework expands on notions of the green or environmental state and sheds new light on the state’s role in governing sustainability transformation. The framework can serve as a basis for empirically assessing the extent to which states possess sustainability-oriented meta-governance capacities and for practically shaping state transformations toward sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The institutions of the environmental state are of fundamental importance to addressing environmental problems in the face of growing global crises. Yet limited attention has been given to these institutions outside wealthy, industrialised democracies. This analysis compares how environment ministries in Georgia and Armenia, two critically understudied cases, have changed since independence in 1991. Findings show that despite similar starting points, the two cases diverged significantly over time. In Georgia, the ministry formed early links with NGOs and international organisations, helping it withstand subsequent instability. By contrast, less attention was given to building these relations in Armenia, with the ministry unable to progress reforms. In line with recent advances in comparative environmental politics, these cases highlight the importance of understanding institutions within their broader political context, which as these cases demonstrate, create or restrict opportunities for engagement with non-state actors and drive cycles of reform and restructuring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The imaginary significance of cities to address the climate change crisis seems to have no ceiling. But the outcomes of urban climate governance have fallen short of the high promise placed on cities to contribute climate solutions. This research examines the widely observed gap between the highly expected role of cities in climate control and the disappointing reality from a perspective of the environmental state. Through a comparative study of two low-carbon city (LCC) experiments in Shenzhen and Huizhou, as well as an analysis of nation-wide administrative legal disputes related to decarbonization issues, this paper identifies an interesting legitimacy space created and manipulated locally along with the emergence of a carbon-focused environmental nation-state. Four rationales, namely carbon re-regulation, carbon formalization, carbon rationalization, and carbon exceptionalism, are identified underpinning different urban actors' articulation and leverage of the national priority of decarbonization to advance their respective agendas. Success or failure of urban climate experiments is found to be contingent upon the effective management and mediation of different rationales, giving rise to a distinctive process of "localizing the low-carbon state." The findings of this research shed light on the multifaceted effects of the greening state on the urban politics of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent debates about "green" authoritarianism have focused on the institutional features of state-led coercive environmentalism. However, the role of various non-state actors in the greening of authoritarian states has remained largely unexplored. Carrying out a case study of Vietnamese‒German development cooperation in the environmental and climate spheres, this article examines the interaction between Vietnamese state institutions and international donors. The article argues that donors play an important role in greening the state policy agenda in Vietnam by funding environmental projects and facilitating knowledge sharing. Nonetheless, donors have very limited freedom to push the political process beyond policymaking and foster meaningful policy implementation. Development practitioners in Vietnam often find themselves caught in a policymaking vacuum, where policymaking is a never-ending process and implementation remains limited. These findings raise broader questions about the effectiveness of climate-related development finance for environmental governance under authoritarian regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is dedicated to the theoretical analysis of legal instruments for regulating environmental problems that are directly aimed at protecting the environment. Current global environmental problems inevitably influence environmental policy, on the one hand, acting as the cause of its formation, and on the other hand, environmental policy means directly combating it. It is therefore necessary to note that at the current stage, environmental and legal policy will require enhanced modernization, both at the sovereign level and at the local level. Environmental-legal policy is a scientifically grounded, systemic activity of special subjects to create an effective mechanism of legal regulation through a civilized approach to legal means and mechanisms of access Many goals such as preserving the natural environment and natural systems, enhancing their integrity and important functions for life and well-being, promoting the quality of life and healthy population, promoting the demographic situation, ensuring the guarantee of environmental rights of communities, forming a high level of legal and environmental culture of humanity. Also, the main directions of legal policy in the fight against current global environmental problems are: the creation of a legal mechanism for ensuring the protection of the environment; prevention and elimination of the threat of environmental safety; improvement of environmental legislation and practices; intensifying the fight against environmental crimes (ecocide, environmental terrorism) and increasing the effectiveness of anti-corruption policy. The increase in the ecological and legal culture of citizens and the formation of a new type of individual. A person is a part of nature and is in a dual relationship with the environment, in one case he is the main source of pollution, in the other - he acts as its protector, carrying out environmental protection activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental state debates focus on the governance and steering functions of politics. Concurrently, many states stand out as large global owners and investors in carbon industries. Via various investment vehicles, states control around half of all global oil and gas reserves as well as other carbon assets. We know very little, however, about where these states are invested; how they conduct their carbon investment; and what possibilities and constraints carbon-owning states have to decarbonise. Yet, these aspects – the geography, investment profiles and domestic state carbon capital dependence – are key to assess the possibilities and limitations of climate action states as carbon owners have. Based on new fine-grained firm-level data, we deliver conceptual and empirical insights into all three issues. Our intervention fills an important gap in our knowledge about the environmental state, while drawing the attention of researchers and policymakers to a blind spot, but also to transformation potentials of the carbon-owning state in the following decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The achievement of global sustainability and climate objectives rests on their incorporation into policy‐making at the level of nation‐states. Against this background, governments around the world have created various specialized sustainability institutions—councils, committees, ombudspersons, among others—in order to promote these agendas and their implementation. However, sustainability institutions have remained undertheorized and their impact on policy‐making is empirically unclear. In this paper, we develop a conceptual framework for sustainability institutions and systematically explore their potential impact on more sustainable policy‐making. We define sustainability institutions as public, trans‐departmental and permanent national bodies with an integrated understanding of sustainability that considers socio‐ecological well‐being, global contexts and a future‐orientation. Drawing on literature on sustainability and long‐term governance as well as on illustrative case examples, we propose conducive conditions and pathways through which sustainability institutions may influence policy‐making. As conducive, we assume sustainability institutions' embodiment of sustainability governance principles as well as their authority, a strong legal basis, resources, and autonomy. Further, we outline how sustainability institutions can influence policy‐making based on their roles in the public policy process. We conclude that the increasing prevalence of national sustainability institutions indicates an ongoing shift from the environmental state toward a more comprehensive sustainability state. However, sustainability institutions can only be one building block of the sustainability state out of many, and their potential to reorient political decision‐making effectively toward the socio‐ecological transformation hinges upon individual design features such as their mandate, resources and authority, as well as on the specific governance context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty, inequality and climate change are profoundly interconnected issues and represent grave threats to the future of our planet and civilization. Failure in one will result in failure in the other; thus, government responses to such threats must be meticulously coordinated, especially across environmental and welfare state programs. In recent years, a growing body of research has examined the links between these two domains, lauding the eco-welfare state as a viable path forward. As the literature on the eco-welfare state is at an early stage, this study proposes two essential theoretical and empirical contributions. First, it examines the most prominent theoretical interpretations of the concept of eco-welfare state and proposes a refined understanding. Second, using model-based cluster analysis for 42 countries, this study empirically unveils a global shift towards and the existence of an eco-welfare state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of a comprehensive study of the Kyma and Sula, the northern right-bank tributaries of the Mezen River are presented for the first time. The paper provides the characteristics of hydrological and hydrochemical parameters based on the results of observations in September 2021. Changes in pH, mineralization, dissolved oxygen, biogenic elements, as well as petroleum hydrocarbons in water and bottom sediments are shown. The compliance of the obtained parameters with the regulatory requirements for the quality of river water was assessed. According to the chemical composition, the water of the Kyma and Sula rivers belongs to the hydrocarbonate class with low mineralization (39.8–76.1 mg/L) and neutral type (pH = 7.14–7.43). The results allow concluding the absence of noticeable anthropogenic impacts on the analyzed watercourses: the concentration of oil hydrocarbons varied from 0.010 to 0.025 mg/L in river water and from 2.05 to 4.60 mg/kg in bottom sediments, which did not exceed the maximum permissible concentrations (MPC). In both rivers, the distribution of oil hydrocarbons in the water along the longitudinal profile had a similar pattern, in which their concentrations increased from the upper reaches to the mouth of the river. The maximum content of hydrocarbons in the soil of the Kyma River was recorded in the lower reaches, where bottom sediments are represented by coarse-grained sand. The maximum concentration of hydrocarbons in the Sula River was registered in the middle reaches at the right-bank station, where the soil is represented by clay. In addition, the paper establishes relationships between various environmental parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last half century runaway wildlife declines have been simultaneous with the liberal environmental state's ascent. Despite proliferating legislation to arrest these declines, states have fuelled economic growth at species' expense. Through what tactics of power does the liberal environmental state manage this contradiction between promising species protection while authorising their obliteration? Manipulations of tense, futurity, temporal pace and scope are central. Responding to the plight of endangered caribou in Canada, the state tinkers and repeatedly resets time ("starting ... now!") while hailing the future eco‐perfect, a time just‐around‐the‐corner when caribou and the economy will flourish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to assess the philosophical categorical meaning of the concepts of “ecological state” and “environmental security” in the space and time of zones of influence of a water management facility, hereinafter referred to as the “Object of Activity” as part of the natural technical system “Natural Environment-Object of Activity-Population”, related to the use of water resources in a particular branch of economic activity. It should be noted that the concept of the “ecological state” in the considered space and time of the river basin geosystem, where quantitative and qualitative indicators of water resources are formed, determines the most important factor in the life of the “Population” living in the zones of influence of the “Object of Activity” – “environmental security”. The formation of scientific thinking in the field of the use of water resources in various branches of economic activity determined the creation and development of a class of natural and technical systems, in which the central technogenic component is different types of hydraulic structures, making certain changes in the natural processes of relationship, interaction and interrelation of biotic and abiotic elements among themselves as part of the “Natural Environment” and the life of the “Population”, forming an “ecological state” as a factor of “environmental security. The systemic concepts of “ecological state” and “environmental security” are the most important basis in the scientific assessment of the level of technogenic impact of the “Object of Activity” on “Natural Environments” within the spatial limits of basin geosystems when making practical decisions.

In this article, the recommendations for the integrated waste management in the textile industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the conditions of transition to the "green economy" are formed. It has been noted that on the current stage of the development the world economy faced with environmental, economic and social problems threaten to present and future generations. The target essence of integrated waste management is the availability of such conditions for it achievement as: substantiation of the criteria for the effectiveness of integrated waste management; indicators assessing effectiveness criteria; types of estimates of economic efficiency of waste management. The system of management decisions as an instrument of integrated waste management on the enterprises has been considered. It has been offered to highlight the expected economic, environmental and social effects and indicators assessing effectiveness criteria when applying an integrated approach to waste management in textile enterprises. The approach to the estimation of components of the economic, environmental and social effects of processing production waste has been elaborated. It has been determined that the impact factors for the efficiency of integrated management of the textile industry wastes are: cost of primary raw materials and useful components contained in waste, cost of technological processes, the cost of moving secondary material resources and primary raw materials from sources of their formation to the place of final consumption, the cost of protecting or restoring the environment from the effects of waste. It has been proved that in the textile industry increasingly powerful economic levers appear to expand and deepen the use of waste in the production process, and economic effect has a growth trend.

• Marine species are declining globally despite the emergence of "environmental states". • Endangered marine animals (EMAs) in Canada are threatened by industrial activities. • From 2002–2019, the state authorized 31 of 32 projects with potential impacts to EMAs. • Environmental assessments consistently predict insignificant impacts to EMAs. • The state sees EMAs in simplified and strategically illegible ways. How does the state see nature? Has the emergence of "environmental states" with significant environmental laws and policy changed the state's vision towards nonhumans, particularly endangered wildlife? These are key questions in a paradoxical context where over the past half century, endangered wildlife have largely continued to decline amid expanding state environmental legislation. Towards answers, we analyze how endangered marine animals in Canada are considered in federal environmental assessments (EAs) that inform state decisions about whether to authorize major development projects. We conducted an inductive content analysis of all federal EAs for projects with potential adverse effects for one or more of the 14 endangered marine vertebrates in Canada. Of 32 projects, 31 were approved, 30 of which were predicted to have no or insignificant impacts on endangered marine species, despite a litany of potential impacts. This analysis reveals four main justifications for predicting insignificant impacts: unproven mitigation measures; species are presumed to have a low likelihood of occurrence in project areas; species behaviour is believed to reduce the likelihood of impacts; and project impacts are characterized as minor compared to existing activity. A consistent vision of nature underpins these justifications: the state sees marine species and ocean ecologies in a simplified manner, while these species also remain strategically illegible. Simplification and strategic illegibility both devalue endangered marine animals, suggesting EA is failing endangered marine species by facilitating the state's ability to prioritize development over species recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

That observed behaviours conflate information processing with resulting responses presents a challenge for understanding how social information contributes to adaptive behaviour in animals. Here, we develop a mathematical model that isolates how individuals assess their environment and use it to examine how social information impacts those assessments. We consider the influences of personal and social sampling efforts, how individuals combine these sources of information, group size, social sampling practices and types of environmental variation. Our analyses lead to predictive formulas that show that social information often improves but sometimes impairs environmental assessments and that the magnitude of improvement or diminishment increases with the extent of environmental variation. We also show that the weight an individual gives to social information affects both whether it improves or degrades its assessment as well as the size of that effect. Simulation results show that group size does not affect the influence of social information on average but does affect the variability of those influences. • Social information may improve or reduce accuracy of individual assessments. • Impact on assessment accuracy depends on how animals weigh social information. • Reductions in accuracy are more likely in small groups than in large ones. • The benefit of social information to assessment accuracy has an upper bound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The State and its governmental institutions have been dignified in the environmentalist mainstream as palliative forces to face and solve the excesses and failures of capitalism and neoliberalism towards a proper environmental management. But this environmental state falls into evident contradictions regards to its formal commitment with environmentalist purposes. In addition, governmental institutions contribute to expand a nihilist attitude in the environmentalist actions of the citizenship. Within the environmentalist strands of anarchism, the matter of State has focused a relevant attention and position. An early green criticism may be found in the nineteenth century anarchists, in which State has no room as a violent and centralized force, and corrupting the goodness of the material, reproductive and spiritual connection of humans with Nature. Most recent eco-anarchist approaches, such as social ecologists, bioregionalists and anarcho-primitivists have analysed how determinant is State as a responsible agent in the global environmental crisis and proposed alternatives to this coercive power. This paper is aiming a) to examine some of the main contributions of the "green" criticism to State from eco-anarchists; and b) to build a consistent and wide critique of the State, helping to promote a non-statist balanced and fair relationship between societies and Nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1990s, the unprecedented rate of economic change in China has created a series of critical policy challenges for both central and subnational states. How these policy challenges are conceived will determine how and when they can be solved. There is a growing interest, in particular, in the problematic issues of welfare, resource management and environmental pollution and how those are managed by the local state. In this study, we analyse the ongoing development of the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City (SSTEC) using the lens of the 'Protean Environmental State.' This multi-faceted perspective on development is one that we have further progressed after more than a decade's research on China's multi-level environmental governance. In this paper, we concentrate on regulatory and enhancement activities. Our work draws upon fieldwork in and around the SSTEC and highlights the problematic nature of reforms to the environmental state. Ultimately, we explore the inherent and ever-shifting tensions between economic and environmental imperatives in relation to the emerging governance of people and of economic development in present-day China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the scientific results of a study to assess the environmental state of agricultural land in Zhambyl region of the Republic of Kazakhstan based on field studies in 2018-2019 and modern GIS technologies. In the course of this study, the areas of degraded agricultural land (farmland) were determined, including the assessment of environmental state of agricultural land according to estimated criteria in the context of farmland in the districts of Zhambyl region. Key areas of study of agricultural land in the region: (i) studying the factors affecting land degradation and its effects, (ii) determination of the land degradation degree, (iii) assessment of the environmental state of land, (iv) creation of estimation cartographic models. The scientific research involved the approved Kazakhstan methods assessing the state of agricultural land successfully applied for arid agricultural regions of Kazakhstan. The results of the study enable the economic entities, especially farms to organise the rational use of agricultural land, ensure environmentally friendly structure of agricultural nature management, sustainability and profitability of agricultural production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comprehensive approach to assessing the current ecological status of the Poland-Ukraine border areas has been considered, identifying possible negative effects associated with river water pollution. The main environmental impact factors that are directly related to the negative effects of anthropogenic load on the changing ecological status of the border areas and adjacent terrain have been identified. Particular attention was paid to the pollution monitoring data analysis of the Ukrainian part of the Western Bug basin. Using the space monitoring results, pollution sources that were not recorded in the official reports were identified. Their negative impact on the change of quality of life within the border areas was assessed. The integration specificities of heterogeneous time-differentiated ecosystem monitoring data were considered. The integration expediency of interdisciplinary joint analysis methods of decryption data and field observations for making operational decisions to prevent negative consequences of possible changes in the ecological status is shown. Modelling was utilized to determine the estimated contamination time of the river systems of Western Bug and Vistula from the Ukraine territory. The tendency of further changes in the ecological status of the analyzed areas has been ascertained, including the assessment of possible negative consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The neoliberal nature of the environmental state prevents a transformation to long-term sustainability. Taking the case of Britain, I scrutinise the rhetorical invention of the environmental state by identifying and analysing the commonplaces that informed political arguments for environmental policymaking between 1997–2015. The analysis shows that the rhetoric of the British environmental state is grounded on neoliberal commonplaces, which entails an understanding of environmental problems and solutions that precludes actual transformation. Ultimately, neoliberalism functions as a glass ceiling to radical environmental transformation; a transformative rhetoric informed by commonplaces different to those of neoliberalism is paramount to the institution of a counter-hegemonic ecological paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the development of the environmental state, climate change is accelerating. The concept of the 'glass ceiling' – denoting an unexplained barrier, impeding the state from using its powers effectively to mitigate threats that it acknowledges should be addressed – has been put forward to account for this. Here, a structural account of this phenomenon is advanced, which suggests that environmental policies are generally outcompeted among government priorities wherever they threaten the capitalist growth imperative. In addition, social/cultural factors, based on the psychology of denial, provide a necessary contribution to our understanding. A three-fold denialism is at work: of climate change itself, the measures required to tackle it (where these contradict a modern faith in material progress), and the potential incapacity of the state to protect society (discouraging close attention to the effectiveness of its climate policies). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary liberal democratic states seem to be headed towards inevitable environmental crisis. These states are locked into unsustainable practices and appear to lack the political institutions that could help them change path. Although there is broad social awareness of the problem of climate change, for example, this has not translated into robust environmental policymaking. Should democracy be regarded as a constitutive part of the 'glass ceiling' to socio-ecological transition? Here, I defend democracy, sketching a model of 'ecological agonism' in which democratic disagreement over environmental issues is understood to be crucial in provoking the emergence of alternatives, disrupting unsustainable conventions, and engaging citizens in a lively politics. Democratic disagreements should not be transcended or rationalised but regarded as a political (re)source. State institutions are key in ensuring the legitimate, provocative, and respectful expression of agonistic conflict over environmental concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The limits of the environmental state in the context of the provision of economic growth are addressed by applying materialist state theory, state-rescaling approaches and the degrowth/postgrowth literature. I compare state roles in a capitalist growth economy and in a postgrowth economy geared towards bio-physical parameters such as matter and energy throughput and the provision of 'sustainable welfare'. In both cases state roles are analysed in relation to the economy, welfare, and the environment, as well as state spatiality. Finally, I address the state in a transition from a growth economy to a sustainable postgrowth economy. I argue that materialist state and sustainable welfare theories are capable of informing state-led 'eco-social' policies that, if integrated in a comprehensive policy strategy, have the potential to overcome the growth imperative in the economy and policymaking and break the growth-related glass ceiling of the environmental state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What are the capacities of the state to facilitate a comprehensive sustainability transition? It is argued that structural barriers akin to an invisible 'glass ceiling' are inhibiting any such transformation. First, the structure of state imperatives does not allow for the addition of an independent sustainability imperative without major contradictions. Second, the imperative of legitimation is identified as a crucial component of the glass ceiling. A distinction is introduced between 'lifeworld' and 'system' sustainability, showing that the environmental state has created an environmentally sustainable lifeworld, which continues to be predicated on a fundamentally unsustainable reproductive system. While this 'decoupling' of lifeworld from system sustainability has alleviated legitimation pressure from the state, a transition to systemic sustainability will require deep changes in the lifeworld. This constitutes a renewed challenge for state legitimation. Some speculations regarding possible futures of the environmental state conclude the article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intensifying global ecological crisis is, by any measure, among the defining political economy issues of our epoch. Questions concerning the state have recently returned to prominence in the field of environmental politics, offering a productive meeting point for research addressing environmental politics and that addressing the political economy of state transformation. The papers in this section all approach the question of the state and its relationship to ecological crisis from a political-economic perspective, foregrounding its relationship to the broader political-economic model in which it is situated. This short article introduces the four contributions to the special section and situates them amidst the broader contemporary research literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ecological State puts environmental considerations at the centre of its actions. To explores its role in the association between air pollution and mental wellbeing, this work employs a hierarchical three-level analysis on the third wave (2011-2012) of the European Quality of Life Survey (Ncitizens = 25007, Nregions = 216, Ncountries = 20). It uses a classification of Environmental Governance Regimes, subjective and objective indicators of air pollution, and the WHO-5 index of mental wellbeing. The findings show that the perception of major air pollution problems and worse mental wellbeing go hand in hand only in partial and established environmental States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The difference schemes of the method of variable directions for numerical realization of two-dimensional models in different frames account for environmental heterogeneity of matter distribution have been presented. The schemes allow to measure concentration of substances in real objects through building of functions, modeling various boundary conditions. A software complex for their implementation has been devised and the test findings as well as their analysis have been presented. To model processes which parameters depend on three spatial coordinates, we have suggested numerical schemes for implementing three-dimensional models that are absolutely stable and have the second order of accuracy at all spatial coordinates. Contaminated areas of anthropogenic origin, particularly surface and underground waters as well as soils have been analyzed. The mathematical models of diffusion processes, based on the use of two- and three-dimensional diffusion equations with a wide range of boundary and initial conditions, have been suggested. It is determined that exact solutions prohibit studying of the peculiarities of their behavior depending on the type of boundary conditions, therefore we suggest using numerical solutions.

In the space of a few years, China's global image with regard to environmental matters has significantly improved. Particularly since Xi Jinping's coming-to-power in 2012 China's reputation in the global climate change regime has improved markedly and it has gained accolades for a new determination to reverse environmental degradation at home. China's incipient green transformation is partly due to a new actor constellation in environmental governance, a striking feature of which is the prominence of ad hoc campaigns that offer quick results but that may undermine the creation of law-based enforcement mechanisms in the long term. Another development -China's increasing use of emerging technologies and big data analytics - has given rise to new forms of government-business alliances. These new players and innovative approaches have injected momentum into China's environmental governance system and suggest that, contrary to conventional wisdom, authoritarian regimes can be responsive to citizen demands under certain circumstances. Yet it remains to be seen whether long-term environmental goals can be met, due to a pervasive lack of accountability, the weakening of civil society and heavy constraints on public participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slovenian part of the Adriatic Sea is its most northern part which occupies approximately 200 km2 and is a part of the wider Gulf of Trieste. Slovenian coast consists of 47 kilometers of mostly steep, abrasive marl and sandstone coast. Low accumulation coast is located only at the mouths of the watercourses and represents but a smaller portion, whereas the smallest part is occupied by the limestone abrasion coast. Mainland coastal region is mostly hillside and has a very diverse relief, while plains, in smaller numbers, are located only in the lower parts of the river valleys. Slovenian sea indents the mainland by two larger gulfs: the Gulf of Koper and of Piran and is predominately very shallow. The average depth is around 18 m and the largest depth is 38 m at the Madona cape near Piran. Sea bottom is mostly covered by the thick layer of sediments deposited after the abrasion of the steep cliff coast and by the accumulation of the river alluvium. Due to its shallowness the sea is exposed to high temperature fluctuations and due to the fresh water influx also to the changes of its salinity. The circulation of the sea water is mainly induced by the tide and wind activities, mostly the Bora (strong north-easterly wind) which significantly influences the vertical circulation of the water. Water current is weak and unstable. There is a large influx of nutrients into the Slovenian sea, resulting from the soil erosion, surface water influx, watercourses and direct emissions of waste waters into the sea. The consequence of the mentioned sea characteristics is a great landscape sensitivity of the coastal sea ecosystem. During summer the sea warms intensely and when accompanied by the weak water circulation, we are often witnessing the lack of oxygen in the deeper layers of the water, intensive algae growth and sea blooming, which points to exceeded self-cleaning (assimilation) capacities of the marine ecosystem. The major polluters are the coastal towns of: Koper, Izola, Piran and Portorož, nautical tourism with marines, naval traffic and the port activity of the Luka Koper. The pressures on the marine ecosystem due to the human activities are still increasing, both on the mainland and in the sea, despite some measures to reduce the pollution. According to the assessment of the Mediterranean action plan (UNEP-MAP), Slovenian coastal sea is, due to its oceanographic characteristics and the economic activities influence, ranked among the most sensitive and endangered parts of the Mediterranean. Environmental state of the Slovenian part of the Adriatic Sea will try to be presented through the DPSIR model or the amended Integral Model of Geographical Study of the Environment and its Components.

O presente trabalho apresenta umadescrição acerca das interfaces e acoplamentoshavidos entre o Direito e a Política na SociedadeContemporânea. Diante da noção de“Policontexturalidade”, como critério deinvestigação da fragmentação do sentido na pósmodernidade,tem-se a possibilidade de confecçãode uma interessante análise do Pluralismo JurídicoTransnacional. Acompanhando as “irritações”emanadas dos riscos ambientais produzidos pelaSociedade atual, está o “Estado Ambiental” que éum re-direcionamento da função do Estado comoorganização política visando a abordagem de seuslimites e invenções para a sua manutenção comoAtor Social privilegiado. Nesta dinâmica, os novosDireitos são o campo temático onde a observaçãoPolicontextural e a operacionalidade organizacionaldo Estado estão redefinindo a complexidade doacoplamento entre o Direito e a Política do pontode vista de um Direito Reflexivo.This work presents a description ofthe coupling between Law and Politics inContemporary Society. Under the expression“Polycontexturality”, as a criterium to investigatethe sense fragmentarion in post modernity, thereis a possible and interesting analysis of theTransnational Legal Pluralism. Following the“irritations” caused by ecological risks in ourSociety is the “Environmental State” which meansa new function to the State, as a politicalorganization with the scope to maintain itself as aprivileged social actor. Thus, the new rights arethe place where the Polycontextural Observationand the State organizational operation areredefining the complexity over the relationsbetween Rigth and Politics, under the sight ofReflexive Rigth.

Ten locations in the Notranjska region, Slovenia, with different land use in the catchment (town, village and agricultural areas), including reference points with different geological composition considered as unpolluted sites, were sampled for water and aquatic moss to evaluate environmental assessment in fresh water systems of the Sava River watershed. Samples of fresh water andFontinalis antipyreticawere taken in all four seasons during the years 2010 and 2012. The water chemistry of the investigated locations was dominated by, while concentrations ofseasonally ranged from 2.1 to 6.4 mg L−1and at one of the reference sites did not exceed 1.3 mg L−1. δ13CDICvalues seasonally ranged from −13.3 to −8.1 ‰ and indicated waters dominated by degradation of organic matter and dissolution of carbonates. δ13Cplantvalues ofF. antipyreticaseasonally ranged from −45 to −32.9 ‰ and of δ15Nplantfrom −0.2 to 6.5 ‰. The higher δ15N value of 6.5 ‰ found inF. antipyreticawas related to agricultural activity in the watershed. The content of minor and trace elements inF. antipyreticaranged from 4–38 µg g−1for Ni, 17–105 µg g−1for Zn, 2–28 µg g−1for Pb, 0.26–1.95 µg g−1for Cd, 4–27 µg g−1for Cu, 4–49 µg g−1for Cr, 1–6 µg g−1for As and 0.33–3.24 µg g−1for Se. The most polluted watershed was the Pšata stream (agricultural area, cattle farm with the highest concentration of nitrate in water) also with highest values for Ni, Cr, Pb, Zn and As. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

River ecosystems are facing a diversity of threats in many parts of the world. To restore and preserve riverine environments, human societies have established water governance and management responses. However, the means by which a satisfactory environmental state can be achieved in light of different regional contexts is still poorly understood. This article explores whether or not good environmental performance can be achieved through water governance and management in combination with further context factors. To this end, we applied fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to examine data on water governance, water management, and environmental performance from a recent international study together with context data on per capita income, corruption, hydro-climate, and use pressure from other datasets. Results demonstrate that the combination of polycentric governance, high per capita income, and low levels of corruption is sufficient for achieving good water management practice. However, a good environmental state in river basins seems to primarily depend upon the overall level of pressure from human use rather than the quality of water management. This demonstrates that water governance and management should be seen as part of a broader societal transformation towards sustainability that focusses on a reduction of pressures in river basins instead of mitigating their impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary task for the environmental state is to address problems related to the market’s externalisation of environmental costs. It has four main resources at its disposal: regulation, redistribution, organisation, and knowledge generation. The way these four resources are deployed make up a state’s environmental governance arrangements. Using data on environmental regulation, taxes, public administrations, and knowledge production from 28 countries, and a hierarchical cluster analysis, four different types of environmental states are identified: established, emerging, partial, and weak. This is followed by some suggestions for further research on the environmental state in a comparative perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

‘Bringing the state back in’ to research on comparative, inter-, and trans-national environmental politics and policy will contribute to better understanding of the limits and prospects of contemporary approaches to environmental politics and the overall evolution of contemporary states once environmental issues become central. The rationale for the state as an analytical perspective in environmental policy and politics is explained, and an empirically oriented concept of the environmental state is introduced, along with a tentative sketch of its evolution in historical perspective. A research agenda on the environmental state is mapped out, centring around variation and convergence in environmental states across space and time; the political/economic dynamics of contemporary environmental states; and inter-linkages among environmental problems, the constitution of political communities, and the functioning of the public power. In conclusion, the ways in which the contributions to this volume address that research agenda are introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Scholars have proposed the analytical concept of the environmental state, a state where government actively addresses negative environmental externalities of economic activities. The mapping of environmental regulatory expansion in Western countries has been central in recent attempts to identify the environmental state empirically. Surprisingly little is known, however, when it comes to the environmental regulatory expansions in non-Western countries. Are there similar trends towards the emergence of environmental states in the non-West as well? From analysing data covering 25 policies in 37 countries, it appears that regulatory expansion has also occurred in the non-Western world, and the distinction between the West and the non-West has been reduced over time. There are non-Western countries among environmental pioneers, and there is some evidence for the trend of global convergence. Future research on environmental states should take into account emerging environmental states in the non-West. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A framework is presented for thinking about state intervention in developed capitalist economies in two domains: social policy and environmental policy (and, within that, climate-change policy). Five drivers of welfare state development are identified, the ‘five Is’ of Industrialisation: Interests, Institutions, Ideas/Ideologies, and International Influences. Research applying this framework to the postwar development of welfare states in the OECD is summarised, distinguishing two periods: up to 1980, and from 1980 to 2008. How far this framework can contribute to understanding the rise and differential patterns of environmental governance and intervention across advanced capitalist states since 1970 is explored, before briefly comparing and contrasting the determinants of welfare states and environmental states, identifying common drivers in both domains and regime-specific drivers in each. The same framework is then applied to developments since 2008 and into the near future, sketching two potential configurations and speculating on the conditions for closer, more integrated ‘eco-welfare states’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

How are environmental policy goals implemented and sustained in the context of political stagnation surrounding national climate policies in the United States? In this paper, we discuss Ecological Modernization Theory as a tool for understanding the complexity of climate governance at the sub-national level. In particular, we explore the emergence of hybrid governance arrangements during the local implementation of federal energy efficiency programs in US cities. We analyze the formation and advancement of programs associated with one effort to establish a sub-national low carbon energy policy: the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program administered by the US Department of Energy. Our findings highlight the diverse range of partnerships between state, private, and civil society actors that emerged through this program and point to some of the challenges associated with collaborative climate governance initiatives at the city level. Although some programs reflected ecologically modern outcomes, other cities were constrained in their ability to move beyond the status quo due to the demands of state bureaucracies and the challenges associated with inconsistent funding. We find that these programs cultivated hybrid arrangements in an effort to sustain the projects following the termination of federal grant funding. Overall, hybrid governance plays an important role in the implementation and long-term sustainability of climate-related policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The difference schemes of the method of variable directions for numerical realization of two-dimensional models in different frames account for environmental heterogeneity of matter distribution have been presented. The schemes allow to measure concentration of substances in real objects through building of functions, modeling various boundary conditions. A software complex for their implementation has been devised and the test findings as well as their analysis have been presented. To model processes which parameters depend on three spatial coordinates, we have suggested numerical schemes for implementing three-dimensional models that are absolutely stable and have the second order of accuracy at all spatial coordinates. Contaminated areas of anthropogenic origin, particularly surface and underground waters as well as soils have been analyzed. The mathematical models of diffusion processes, based on the use of two- and three-dimensional diffusion equations with a wide range of boundary and initial conditions, have been suggested. It is determined that exact solutions prohibit studying of the peculiarities of their behavior depending on the type of boundary conditions, therefore we suggest using numerical solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a public good, the environment has traditionally been handled by public authorities. However, withglobalization conventional state environmental authority is transformed, relocated and deterritorialized.New non-state environmental authorities emerge. This paper conceptualizes the shifts in and relocation ofenvironmental authority structures and illustrates this with examples from the fields of certification andlabeling and environmental partnerships. While relocation does take place, new environmental authoritystructures are often mixes of state and non-state authorities. The paper finally assesses these developments,reflecting on the conventional criticism of the poor environmental and democratic potentials ofsuch new non-state environmental authorities.

Abstract: A method combining environmental data extracted from the dissolved oxygen profile of a fed-batch bioreactor and a dynamic discrete Markov chain model has been presented in order to give more insight about the glucose and dissolved oxygen fluctuations experienced by the microorganisms during cultivation in heterogeneous bioreactor. The fed-batch cultivation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been performed in a well-mixed and a partitioned scale-down reactor (SDR). The analysis of the environmental sequences has shown extended time lengths for the glucose availability and depletion sequences in the case of the SDR under a DO-controlled fed-batch culture. The Markov chain model developed in this work is able to capture the stochastic environmental events, i.e. in our case the environmental states experienced by the microorganisms crossing the tubular part of the SDR. The simulation results show clearly an extension of the starvation periods in the case of the culture performed in the SDR. The simulations have been performed at the single cells level allowing future improvements of our model and notably in the context of the population segregation phenomena occurring in fed-batch cultures. As a perspective, flow cytometry has been presented as a high-throughput analytical tool for the investigation of yeast physiology at the single cell level and in process-related conditions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The current generation of crop-based biofuels is heavily contested for its negative consequences for the environment and the poor. Hence, the current biofuel system needs to be transformed in the direction of what can be labelled 'fair fuels': (bio)fuels that are environmentally and socially sustainable. Conventional state environmental authorities have limited power and legitimacy to effectively regulate the sustainability of current global biofuels. Hence, we witness the emergence of private market environmental authorities, moral environmental authorities and all kinds of hybrid authorities in biofuel regulation. These new forms of environmental authority should neither be condemned as ineffective and undemocratic nor celebrated as the modern answer to transnational environmental problems that face state failure. Further critical inquiry into the changing environmental authority structure under conditions of globalisation is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an historical sketch of the insights and applications provided by social science scholars on environmental governance. The authors begin with a review of the conceptual developments during the past 50 years characterized in terms of six conceptual perspectives: pluralism, agency capture, ecological Marxism, ecological modernization, social constructionism, and global environmentalism. This section is followed by an empirical analysis of academic journal coverage of research on environmental governance from 1963 to 2001 listed in the database Sociological Abstracts. The authors conclude that an under- standing of the potential for environmental improvement could be advanced by the treatment of works that fall within the conceptual typology described herein, as a cumulative body of interdisciplinary knowledge. Advancements in this area could, furthermore, be facilitated through a broadening of empirical and methodological treatment of environmental governance and a greater attention to macro-structural relations among state and societal forces and environmental phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the potential for nation-states to become substantial contributors to sustainability governance. This potential resides in the ability of nation-states to make environmental protection a basic goal, in part by committing institutional resources toward the formation and implementation of substantive actions perceived necessary for long-term environmental sustainability. Existing research suggests that nation-states undertake environmental action in order to maintain legitimacy in the face of political pressure. While the maintenance of legitimacy is necessary, we argue that a substantive state role in sustainability governance is also dependent upon the rationalization of state environmental roles. Further, rationalization can be fostered through the enrichment of embedded state-societal networks with two key actors in civil society: environmental justice movements and environmental knowledge professionals. This article develops a conceptual framework that grounds sustainability efforts in rationalization processes and examines the synergistic potential for these two social actors to help build states that institute fundamental environmental reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A generic integrated sensory-intelligent system (ISIS) is developed for underwater acoustic signal-processing applications. ISIS constantly monitors the current acoustic channel conditions and smoothly integrates the outputs of the most appropriate signal-processing procedures or algorithms available to it for those conditions. The system is based on a generalization of a tuneable approximate piecewise linear (TAPL) model derived from the modified probabilistic neural network (MPNN). This model was designed to seamlessly integrate a set of local linear signal-processing algorithms within a given multidimensional data space. Depending on the input signal distortions, which are determined by environmental effects, ISIS automatically weighs and adds the outputs from a set of processing algorithms working in parallel. The weighting is related to the "closeness" of each algorithm to the sensed input signal characteristics or some other measured environmental state. A single tuning parameter is used to smoothly and seamlessly select appropriately among the parallel processing algorithm outputs. A very small tuning-parameter value selects the closest most appropriate algorithm output. At the other extreme, a fixed weighted average of all the algorithm outputs is produced with a very large value. Otherwise, a dynamic weighed average of all algorithm outputs is achieved with values in between. Some features and benefits of ISIS are demonstrated with an illustrative linear sweep chirp signal-detector estimation problem characterized by extremely variable Doppler conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a hybrid method integrating case-based reasoning (CBR) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) methods to reinforce the sustainable performance of an environmental management system. The CBR–AHP method aims to support the decision-making process to select environmental management actions (EMAs) aimed at reducing risky trends of the environmental state of a region. The CBR methods takes advantage of a set of situation–solution pairs called cases, which are stored in a memory and then retrieved as candidates to solve new problems. Situations in this work are represented by a set of risky trends of key environmental pathways (KEPs) related to CO2 emissions, air quality, loss of vegetation cover, water availability, and solid waste, the combination of which damage the environmental state quality of a region. Meanwhile, solutions are represented by a set of EMAs. Similar situations to a given current situation are retrieved from the memory of cases, and then their solutions are combined through an adaptation mechanism, until the solution of the current problem is obtained. The AHP method is used to assign weights to environmental variables and to alternative solutions represented by EMAs. We used risky trends derived from real data related to the environmental states of a Mexican region to test the proposed CBR–AHP hybrid method. The results obtained provided insights into the potential of the CBR–AHP hybrid method to support the decision-making process to select EMAs aimed at reducing risky trends of current environmental states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article applies a modified conceptual framework derived from Sabatier’s advocacy coalition framework and Haas’ epistemic communities’ framework to analyze climate advocacy coalitions in Guangzhou, China, a largely unexplored area of study. Our analysis reveals several key features of the climate policy advocacy groups working to promote policy change within the policy subsystem of a nonpluralistic regime: (a) mutual interdependence (consensus building) in the creation of an advocacy coalition system, (b) government recognition and endorsement of newly established or professionally oriented coalition organizations, (c) coalition formation in a top-down manner rather than by accumulative bottom-up demands, and (d) bottom-up motivators, such as changing societal values and the external environment, which contribute to and accelerate the reform of policy orientation and the administrative structure of coalition formation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article presents a study which aims at analyzing the policies and the tactics of two European medium sized city regions to apply a sustainable sound pattern of development. Both cities are located in industrialized areas: Bochum in the Valley of Ruhr in Germany and Modena in the region of Emilia-Romagna. Similarities can be detected such as the environmental threats and the common cultural and political context. The article compares these cases and provides contrasts and similarities stemming from the two different developmental patterns.