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• A fallacious narrative could trigger unprecedent devastation. • Niobium deposits in well conserved biodiverse area in Amazon are investigated. • Scenarios reveals large extent of deforestation caused by new projects. • Cumulative impact assessment is necessary to better appraise mining projects. • Risk of making ill-informed decisions without a comprehensive assessment of adverse impacts. Political pressure to expand mining to protected areas in near-pristine regions urges strategic-level anticipation of the impacts of infrastructure provision necessary to support mining development. Undeveloped niobium deposits in Northwestern Amazon were broadcasted as of primary interest of Brazilian politicians, what called attention to the risks to ecosystem conservation and indigenous people in this key biodiversity area. Given this current threat, we investigated different scenarios of mining expansion in the region and found that it would entail significant cumulative forest loss, affecting biodiversity and ecosystem services. If conciliation of niobium exploitation and conservation is possible, it would require strengthening the assessment of cumulative impacts under the current environmental impact assessment process by: (i) providing terms of reference with straightforward requirements and criteria; (ii) produce a public database and standardize procedures for data acquisition; (iii) use and development of retrospective and prospective investigative protocols. These ingredients are lacking in the current political trend of weakening environmental legislation and governance, therefore Amazon niobium should be kept in the ground. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the interrelations between environmental variables (proxies for water availability and soil physico-chemical properties) and tree community patterns (diversity, composition and structure) along pond-upland topographic gradients within depressional watersheds in the upper Uruguay River basin in southern Brazil. Sampling plots were allocated in four topographic habitats: (1) inside ponds (wetland sites) and (2) immediately outside them, and in areas with (3) 60 cm and (4) 120 cm of elevation in relation to their limits (upland sites). Environmental conditions and forest composition varied along pond-upland gradients, but the diversity and structure of tree communities did not. Species turnover was associated with changes in topography-driven environmental conditions, notably water availability. Depressional watersheds show regionally unique abiotic and biotic features but are virtually unprotected by Brazilian private land legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The state of the art of the legal framework for the protection of wetlands against climate change was constructed based on a bibliometric and network analysis using the Scopus® database as an instrument for the search of scientific documents. The most important subject areas come from environmental science. The most relevant research trends in this review regarding climate change were: a) the importance of wetlands and their impact; b) the environmental protection and conservation of wetlands and their effects on biodiversity; c) environmental management policies (restoration, conservation, protection of wetlands) and sustainable development. Other important aspects were identified, such as regional trends and territorial planning, carbon management, methane production, landscape indicators and effective participation as elements for environmental policies for the management, restoration, protection and conservation of these ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the results of a study of environmental problems that intensely limit socioeconomic development in Central Asia. The authors analyse the current environmental problems as follows. The loss of biodiversity and the complexity of the network of protected natural areas. Insufficient level of municipal solid waste processing, energy efficiency problems, in particular, the deterioration of the energy system. There are as well the imbalance between hydropower, irrigated agriculture and the environment, problems of the Aral Sea. The article proposes solution methods, including amendments to the legislation, i.e. the adoption of managerial decisions, as well as strengthening judicial control over compliance with the law. Gaps in the legislative regulation of environmental safety are examined. Along with policies at the national, regional and international levels. As well as future trends in the distribution of global resources that will be effective in protecting the environment, including the activities of The Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia (hereinafter - CAREC). The article analyses the basic environmental rights of citizens as well as cases and consequences of violation of such rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Avances is the property of Instituto de Informacion Cientifica y Tecnologica 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.)

Copyright of Al Bashaer Economic Journal is the property of Al Bashaer Economic Journal 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.)

Summary: Protected area systems include sites preserved by various institutions and mechanisms, but the benefits to biodiversity provided by different types of sites are poorly understood. Protected areas established by local communities for various reasons may provide complementary benefits to those established by large-scale agencies and organizations. Local communities are geographically constrained, however, and it remains unclear how effectively they protect biodiversity. We explored this issue by focusing on protected areas established through direct democracy via local ballot initiatives whereby communities vote to tax themselves for open space preservation. We compared the effectiveness of local ballot-protected areas to areas protected by a large-scale conservation actor, The Nature Conservancy (TNC). We evaluated how well the two protected area types correspond with amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals and special status elements of natural diversity. Local ballot-protected areas differed from those of TNC in terms of size, location, proximity to urban areas and habitat diversity. In terms of potential habitat coverage, local ballot-protected areas outperformed TNC sites for all species groups with the exception of special status elements of natural diversity. While not necessarily targeting wildlife and habitats, we conclude that locally established protected areas can make an important contribution to biodiversity conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the marine megafauna often strands on beaches around the world, such as sea turtles and whales, stranding data are poorly managed and incorporated into management and conservation strategies. Here we use a knowledge value chain framework to call attention for the urgent need to improve our data architecture and knowledge management on marine megafauna strandings. We use Brazil, a continental megadiverse federative republic, as study model. After describing the main components and identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the current Brazilian data architecture, we propose 10 practical measures for its improvement involving researchers, companies, non-governmental organizations, legislators, policy makers, public agents, citizen scientists, and local communities. Although Brazil has notable strengths such as comprehensive environmental legislation, hundreds of scientists and dozens of prestigious research institutions, stranding data is not translated into technical-scientific knowledge; technical-scientific knowledge is not transformed into effective public regulations; deficient regulations lead to bad decisions and limited actions, which in turn result in ineffective management and conservation strategies. In light of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030), we propose (1) expanding standardized beach monitoring projects to the entire Brazilian coast; (2) creating a governmental database with FAIR principles; (3) encouraging the development of broad citizen science initiatives; (4) funding scientists and research institutions; (5) boosting outreach activities among researchers to popularize the scientific knowledge; (6) raising awareness among legislators and policy makers on the problem of strandings; (7) updating the existing legal provisions on the environmental licensing of activities developed at sea; (8) hiring new environmental analysts and inspectors and improving the infrastructure of executing environmental agencies; (9) strengthening existing conservation networks with multiple stakeholders; and (10) making the results of the management and conservation strategies broadly accessible to society. These recommendations may also apply to other coastal countries around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main challenges in the environmental field in Russia were analyzed. It has been shown threats in the formation of favorable ecological situation which should be overcome first. Accents on the weakness of the modern state environmental policy in Russia are made primarily on those of its elements, which are designed to stimulate environmental management in enterprises. Among the main environmental challenges, the author outlines, in particular, the following: the need to form an innovative economy, the possibility of modernizing the economy in the conditions of the economic crisis, the weakness of modern state environmental policy in the Russian Federation, the need to develop and implement new effective instruments in the field of environmental regulation, strict observance of environmental legislation, etc. Particular attention is paid to the key aspects of developing an environmental regional strategy, which is considered as one of the ways to solve environmental problems. Analysis of modern environmental challenges will help to develop a strategy for overcoming them and accordingly transform state environmental policy.

ABSTRACT This study aimed to diagnose the environmental infractions that occurred in the northern region of Santa Catarina State (Southern Brazil). The environmental infractions were classified by category and by violation activities concerning the hydrographic regions of Canoinhas Plateau and Baixada Norte from 2014 to 2018 to assess the growth and causes of a diagnosis regarding the environmental damages occurrences. Results indicated that the major illegal environmental practices registered in both region are related to environmental violations regarding the damage caused in native vegetation, and these damages are caused without authorization of the competent environmental authority. In addition, it was also important to note the activity of maintaining birds in captivity and of functioning of potentially pollutant activities or establishments that do not have a license of the competent regional environmental agencies. Therefore, efforts from the Environmental Policy should be directed to implement a forest monitoring system using remote sensing technology apart from starting a stronger cooperation with municipal authorities from Santa Catarina State by promoting Environmental Monitoring Programs (EMP).

The essay discusses the negotiations of the Montreal Protocol of 1987 by the Reagan administration, arguing that the protocol served as a tool to export and impose a level of environmental protection on the world that was already enforced in the US. The analysis of the domestic debates surrounding the treaty shows that the negotiations became a contest of strength between a dying “New-Dealist” regulatory nationalism and a thriving neo-conservative nationalism. The former won the battle in Montreal, but lost the war; the agreement represented its last flicker of life before the final rise of the latter.

In recent decades, companies in the clothing industry have adopted principles and criteria of environmental and social sustainability. The most innovative companies form a business hub called green fashion, sustainable fashion, eco-fashion, bio-fashion, ethical fashion, environmental fashion, ecological clothing or "slow fashion". So, is this a passing trend or a structural change? Using the hypothetico-deductive method, bibliographic and statistical analyses and studies of published cases, this study investigates the environmental behavior of the main social sectors or stakeholders involved in the operation of the fashion industry. The results reveal that the change toward the greening of the clothing industry is in fact structural and is led by the most advanced countries. Contributions to this structural change come from public administrations via environmental, commercial and consumer legislation, from international NGOs by means of alert campaigns that raise consumers' environmental awareness, from researchers identifying chemical risks, and from designers and companies using ecologically friendly materials in fabrics and incorporating ethical practices in manufacturing processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the results of a study of environmental problems that intensely limit socio-economic development in Central Asia. In the authors' analysis, the most pressing current environmental problems are the loss of biodiversity and the complexity of the network of protected natural areas; insufficient levels of municipal solid waste processing; energy efficiency problems, in particular, the deterioration of the energy production and supply system; the imbalance between hydropower, irrigated agriculture and the environment; and problems of the Aral Sea. The article proposes solutions, including amendments to the legislation, the adoption of managerial decisions, and strengthening judicial control over compliance with the law. This article examines gaps in the legislative regulation of environmental safety and in policies at the national, regional and international levels. It also identifies future trends in the distribution of global resources that will be effective in protecting the environment, including the activities of the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia (CAREC). It also analyses the basic environmental rights of citizens as well as cases and consequences of violation of such rights, focusing on the need to inform citizens about the state of the environment and existing environmental problems, which is now the aim of the regional environmental remediation programme, led by the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarises the arguments and counterarguments within the scientific discussion on the issue of promotion energy-efficient innovations by marketing, management and law supporting. The innovative development is considered to be an essential condition to provide a high level of social and economic development. Thus, energy-efficient innovations are considered to be among the most critical drivers of qualitative economic growth and increasing the country's competitiveness in the world market. Systematisation literary sources and approaches for solving the problem of promoting energy-efficient innovations indicated that government and scientists give the powerful punch in energyefficient development. In view of this, it is appropriate to do the bibliometric research on publication activity on energyefficient innovation from law aspect. The primary purpose of the study is to analyse the structure and dynamic of scientific publications in the field of energy-efficient legislation in the economic subject areas. The object of study is the chosen publications indexed in the Scopus database by keywords such as: «energy-efficient innovations», «energy law», «environmental legislation», «energy-efficient policy» in the category «title, abstract, keywords». The current study involved data from 1913 papers published on 13 languages in the subject area «Business. Management and Accounting» and «Economics, Econometrics, and Finance» from 2000 to 2019. Using VOSviewer, bibliometric analysis of publications on the issue of energy-efficient legislation was conducted from the view of the publication activity dynamic, considering the most impact articles, and countries in the issues of energy-efficient legislation researches. According to the obtained results, the increasing dynamic of publication activity from 2000 to 2019 was detected. Furthermore, it was visualised four clusters of countries' collaborations by co-authorship as follows: 1) between the USA, the EU countries (including the United Kingdom) and China; 2) the EU countries, as well as South American such as Brazil and Chile; 3) African countries and the EU countries; 4) between Asian and African countries. Furthermore, the authors highlighted the most influencing articles in the field of energy-efficient innovations that could be the basis for future investigations promoting innovative activity in the field of energy-efficient development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ambiência is the property of Revista Ambiencia 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.)

Copyright of Revista Catalana de Dret Ambiental is the property of Universitat Rovira I Virgili 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.)

The Protected Areas (PAs) are territorial spaces that present natural resources with relevant characteristics. Such areas are used as strategy for the environment protection. The use of geotechnologies, such as Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing, optimizes diagnosis and environmental monitoring. The study aimned to analyzed the use and soil occupation as well as the fragility of the current scenario of the Pinheiro Grosso Biological Reserve (ReBio – ReBio, in Portuguese), located in Barbacena - Minas Gerais state - Brazil. Currently, ReBio areas presents 66.18% occupied by Vegetation and 33.82% by Anthropized area. Multicriteria Analysis revealed that 4.19% of the ReBio are strongly subject to anthropization. Due to the great anthropic pressure and existing socioenvironmental conflicts, its category of Integral Protection does not match its current situation. So, it is suggested the delimitation of unit Damping Zone, the emergency implementation of environmental education programs for the local community, as well as greater supervision and monitoring of the area, as well as its recategorization as a Sustainable Use unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de fontes is the property of Revista de fontes 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.)

Environmental licensing can be considered a management tool for organizations, which must be carried out according to norms and principles in order to make it a tool capable of monitoring whether the property is in compliance with the current environmental legislation. It must be performed at appropriate intervals and carefully analyzed to intensify the objectives, always seeking improvements of the productive processes in order to minimize environmental damage. Thus, this article aims to analyze the importance of environmental licensing for sustainable rural development. The method used for this study was the bibliographical research, where several bibliographic sources will be used, to give theoretical foundation to the research. Thus, the article will demonstrate the phases of environmental licensing as well as the themes related to sustainable rural development, in order to identify how environmental licensing has a great relation with sustainability, since it conditions limits and restrictions for the development of potentially polluting activities that, in practice, take into account and is based on the importance of not attacking the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Espacios is the property of Talleres de Impresos Oma 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.)

Copyright of Revista Metropolitana de Sustentabilidade is the property of Revista Metropolitana de Sustentabilidade - RMS 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.)

This study draws on legitimacy theory to investigate the relationship between mandatory disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions by companies that are subject to specific environmental legislation (the Australian National Greenhouse Energy Reporting Act 2007) and the level of voluntary environmental disclosures. Using a sample of 535 observations, we find that i) Overall, legislation-affected companies increase their disclosures compared with non-affected companies, ii) As many companies reduce their disclosures as increase them, iii) there is an increase in the level of emissions volume disclosures in legislation-affected companies compared with the same company pre-implementation, iv) legislation-affected higher emitters have higher levels of voluntary disclosures. These findings are consistent with legitimacy theory, which predicts differential disclosures in circumstances to avoid scrutiny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Specialists from both the environmental protection and environmental law areas have different perceptions on the environmental legislation, due to the particularities of the regulatory and legislative acts, on one hand, and the particularities of the technical approach to the environmental quality evaluation, on the other. This study is presenting the flow of the environmental legislative process and the relationship between the environmental norms, standards and monitoring with the national, European Union (EU) and international environmental legislation. The environmental legislative flow is further completed by the contribution of legislative monitoring and legislative assessment processes, also integrating the environmental monitoring mechanisms and their particular results, turning the flow into an environmental legislative cycle. It was concluded that the environmental monitoring mechanism, used for the development of environmental legislation, is necessary to verify both its legislative effects and its intervention on further regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analysis of existing legislation shows that legal norms are established mainly for soils belonging to the category of agricultural land. The orientation of land legislation to the category of land does not take into account the specific features of the soil as an essential component of the environment. It performs the most important set of ecological functions in both natural and anthropogenic ecosystems. At present, even a few references to soil in the system of regulatory acts are actively supplanted by the category of land. In its legal essence, the category of land is primarily a socio-economic category. The existing in scientific literature and regulatory acts formulations reflect the modern scientific ideas of soil as an independent natural body; however, from the legal point of view, they are extremely vague, uncertain, and do not meet understanding among legislators. In the legal definition of the category of soil, it is reasonable to limit it to several of the most important soil characteristics, among which the humus content and the bulk density should play the major role. Naturally, the restriction of the category of soil to a narrow set of characteristic features will narrow it in some cases and unjustifiably expand the number of natural or human-made objects related to the soil in other cases, but this will move the project of the Federal Law On Soil Protection (no. 83334-3) from the stalemate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is devoted to the problems of legal regulation in the field of environmental self-control in Ukraine, which is traditionally considered one of the forms of environmental control by the Ukrainian environmental law doctrine. It is supported by the scientific position that environmental self-control is a function of environmental management and an element of the environmental management system in general. The urgency of improving the efficiency of law in this area is due to the authors` contention, according to which environmental monitoring is one of the most promising guarantees for ensuring environmental safety of the environment and human beings by preventing and minimizing the negative impact of environmental activities on the part of business entities. The authors focus on problematic issues in the field of environmental self-control, which resulted in the conclusion that fragmentation and imperfection of such legislation are in place. The review of normative legal acts in the field of environmental self-control adopted in other countries with related legal systems in Ukraine, as well as an overview of the European Union legal acts in the field of research are provided. Practical value of research results obtained in the article is reflected in a systematic analysis of the regulation of relations in the field of environmental self-control implementation at the present stage. Specific proposals were made to the current legislation of Ukraine and the necessity of obligatory inclusion of environmental self-control to environmental management system as of its necessary element was determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Gestión y Ambiente is the property of Universidad Nacional de Colombia 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.)

Copyright of GeSec: Revista de Gestao e Secretariado is the property of Sindicato das Secretarias e Secretarios do Estado de Sao Paulo (SINSESP) 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.)

This article evidences that local productive system in Atlantic/Caribbean region in Costa Rica, based on banana and pineapple plantations for export, is responsible of severe damage to nature and could not resolve social problems like poverty. This conclusion is based on analysis of numerous scientific and technical literatures about environmental and social effects of productive activities in Atlantic/Caribbean region, between 1990 and 2015. This situation contradicts the objectives of Sustainable Development model established in Costa Rica, aimed at protection of nature and resolving needs of people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental licensing process is of restricted knowledge and most of the population is unaware of its basic operation. The aim of this article is to characterize the environmental licensing process of the mining sector in the Goias State. Among the most relevant characteristics identified is the absence of legal criteria for the classification of mining activities for the environmental licensing. The research consisted in a review of the environmental legislation applied to the mining sector and analysis of information on environmental licensing processes before the environmental authority of the Goias State between 2011-2014. The formal definition of the environmental licensing process and its consequent disclosure in didactic format and accessible to all, emerges as the main challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ecuadorian legislation on environmental issues was dispersed during decades, with few efforts to codify it. Since the Environmental Organic Code entered into effect, Ecuador has a specific and updated norm which is in coherence with the constitutional dispositions, that tend to guarantee a healthy environment and the protection of the rights of the nature. The paper analyzes national and international literature related to the structure of the new Code, and makes a critical study of each chapter of this new law. The results of the analysis show some wise choices made by the Ecuadorian legislator who provided an updated instrument that contains the Ecuadorian paradigm of a new model of development, well-being or “Sumak kawsay”; on the other hand, there is still evidence of a centralized model dependent on the National Environmental Authority linked directly to the President, also there is a lack of development of the concept of the rights of the nature, which means that the legislator lost a unique opportunity, as the Constitution established that the Environmental Organic Code was supposed to be the adequate form to develop this concept. The innovation of this analysis is that this is the first time a legal study of the Ecuadorian Environmental Code is done; moreover, it opens diverse lines to debate about the implementation, possible reforms and opportunities that this law could bring to the conservation of the environment in a megadiverse country like Ecuador. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]