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Before being approved for use, pesticides undergo ecological risk assessment (ERA) to identify any adverse effects they may have on non-target species. For terrestrial mammals, dietary toxicity studies on laboratory animals, lasting up to two years, are used to assess chronic toxicity. However, such studies are limited in their ability to assess ecological risk, as constant dietary exposure to pesticides over long periods is an unrealistic scenario in the field. In silico models have long been suggested as a way of addressing the limitations of laboratory testing, by simulating the processes underlying toxicity. Toxicokinetic-toxicodynamic (TK-TD) models simulate both the uptake of a chemical into an animal's body, and the resulting stress on biological processes which leads to observed effects. This thesis comprises a series of studies in which TK-TD models were developed to simulate the effects of dietary toxicity on the growth of rodents, and applications for ERA and the reduction of animal testing were explored. Unpublished raw data from regulatory toxicokinetics and toxicity studies on several pesticides were provided by Syngenta. First, a protocol for TK-TD modelling with regulatory datasets was developed. This produced TK-TD models that successfully predicted the growth rate of laboratory rats exposed to various pesticides and dietary dose levels. These TK-TD models were then used to facilitate comparisons between in vitro and in vivo toxicity data. While no predictive relationships were identified, this study demonstrated how in vitro and in silico methods may be combined to obviate the need for animal testing in future. Finally, a new method for converting observed feeding data into growth model inputs was developed, improving model accuracy and realism. This enhances the ability of models to separate the effects of toxicity and feeding avoidance on body weight, a valuable insight for assessing ecological risk.

In China, collaborative measures have been chosen and adopted to support the implementation process for many environmental policies and projects. This adoption provides a possibility to study the operation of these governance measures in the context of China. This research targets key factors affecting the collaborative and cooperative process in environmental project delivery. By connecting implementation and networking theories, it builds a framework to identify the roles, attitudes and behaviour of the actors involved, the divergent resources and conditions and the intertwined human relationships, in the process of the intergovernmental collaboration, and cooperation between governmental and non-governmental sectors. The policy implementation models show basic implementation process and governance theories provide key governance arrangements and elements for the framework. However, there are serious gaps founded in the literature review, i.e., the limitation of the typical focus in the policy implementation and environmental governance areas, the contextual inapplicability, overly general impact factors and challenges in governance practice. To fill these gaps, this research targets the collaborative and cooperative process in environmental project delivery and focuses on small cities of China. The research findings, therefore, make a contextual-based contribution to the literature and be of assistance on environmental governance in the less experienced small cities. This study selected Tai'an as a case study area because of the importance of environmental resources in the city where there were two typical ongoing environmental projects, the Sponge City project and the Mount Tai Regional Landscape Forest Farmland Lake Grass Ecological Protection and Restoration Project (Mount Tai Project), which were selected for the research. In the pilot study stage, the 'ambition-action gaps' in Tai'an's collaborative and cooperative environmental project delivery were noticed by the researcher. Therefore, in order to explore why and how overarching intervening factors produce these gaps and the significance and problems associated with collaboration and cooperation processes at the local level, with regard to environmental project delivery in China's small cities, this study puts forward five research questions as follows. Research Question 1: What forms of governance measures have been used in environmental project delivery at the local level in China? Research Question 2: For what exogenous reasons do local governments in China's small cities start to collaborate and cooperate in the environmental project delivery process and why, and how do key actors conventionalise collaboration and cooperation under such governance arrangements? Research Question 3: Why do some key actors hold different perspectives towards collaboration and cooperation, and how do these perspectives shape their behaviour with regard to joint environmental project delivery? Research Question 4: Why and how do intervening factors create or prevent the 'ambition-action gap', after governance tools are employed in environmental project delivery process of small cities? Research Question 5: To what extent do guanxi influence environmental governance in small cities? To address the research questions, a multi-method qualitative research agenda with a case study design as its core was adopted as the research methodology. The pilot interview in the case study for the Sponge City project justified the relevance of the research questions and examined the feasibility of the research methodology. The follow-up case studies for the Sponge City project and the Mount Tai project generated in-depth data about the collaborative and cooperative project delivery processes. In detail, the data was collected by reviewing relevant policies and local documents, organising four initial and twenty-seven in-depth interviews, and participating in two three-month observations. For each case, the qualitative data was analysed longitudinally, followed by a thematic review across the two cases.

Climate change is one of the major issues characterising the contemporary global world. This thesis aims to understand how adaptation (and, in some cases, mitigation) technologies – and the practices in which they are embedded – work at the ‘local’ level. It also investigates how these, in turn, are intertwined with emerging dynamics of social justice at the ‘community’ level, as embedded in current global adaptation strategies. With this objective, my analysis focuses on the Chololo Ecovillage Project, implemented in rural Tanzania between 2011 and 2014. This project was part of The Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA), an initiative of the European Union to ‘address the challenges associated with climate change’ (Chololo Ecovillage, 2014). In order to develop my research on technology and adaptation, I adopted an ethnographic approach based on ten months of participant observation in the (eco)village of Chololo, 20 focus groups and 68 semi–structured interviews. I developed a practice theory approach to adaptation based on the understanding of sustainability of Shove and Spurling (2013). More specifically, following Andrew Sayer’s (2013) constructive critique, I introduced Bourdieu’s (1977) and Ortner’s (2006) perspective on practice theory and a post colonialist view (Mbembe, 2001). The theoretical analysis of the ‘improved’ technologies introduced in Chololo, moreover, can be read in continuity with some of the literature in Anthropology of Development, from the ‘90s onwards (Crewe & Harrison, 1998; Escobar, 1997; Mosse, 2004b). In light of this theoretical framework, the thesis has considered the case of the technologies of ‘improved’ bulls and ‘improved’ stoves. The analysis of the ethnographic material led me to argue that Ecovillages, even if partially conceived as social engineering experiments, are in fact a representational model based on the introduction of ‘improved’ technologies as ‘technical fixes’ (Rosner, 2004). They lack equity, legitimacy and, therefore, also effectiveness (and partially efficiency) (Adger et al., 2005).The case of Chololo Ecovillage empirically shows that there is an urgent need, in current adaptation strategies, to go ‘beyond technical fixes’ (Nightingale et al., 2019).

This study was carried out in the Carnon valley, which is located in Cornwall, south-west England. A river runs through the Carnon valley while former settlement ponds for processing tin and copper ore from the Wheal Jane mine are found on the floodplain. Tailings and waste rocks have accumulated on the floodplain to a height of about 6 meters. The valley is physically divided by a country road into the Middle valley and the Lower valley. Plant growth on tailings in the Middle valley, where tailings heaps were bulldozed, is visibly different from plant growth in the tailings and coarse waste rock observed in the Lower valley. The Lower valley, which features hummocks and hollows, appears to be less rehabilitated than the Middle valley. However, flora diversity in the Lower valley is considerably higher compared to the Middle valley, where a relatively homogeneous vegetation coverage is dominated by a few species. Other noticeable differences between the Lower and Middle valleys are a relative consistent soil compaction and the absence of visible ponds in the Middle valley. This research aims to identify the main drivers and limiting factors in the natural rehabilitation process and local biodiversity development in the middle and lower sections of the Carnon Valley. Through close year-round recording of natural plant species and colonies and habitat survey in the evolving terrain, it was attempted to correlate biota to progressive structural amelioration of the site. Species success was observed in relation to habitat evolution, restrictions imposed by residual toxicity of the former metal-mining terrain, advantages gained by artificial topographic diversity present on abandonment, and the stages reached in the dynamic progression of the combination of all of these features. By observing and recording the outcome of natural revegetation and identifying the impacts of abiotic factors, recommendations are made about the significance of such abandoned mine-sites in relation to ecological conservation value of such former disturbed land, and derive proposals for its onward management. We conclude that, on the site, complex interwoven processes occur of which we observe the state at one moment in time. The volume of data collected in the Carnon Valley is probably greater than available for any other known mine site of comparable history and size. While the data enabled inference of important biotic progressions, this study suggests that the 9 approaches may be applied to other abandoned mine sites, especially for assessment of natural attenuation of residual toxic legacies and ways to engineer future biotic rehabilitation patterns. The potential development of abandoned mine sites to re-establish natural biodiversity is thus recommended, together with a strategy for monitoring of future rehabilitation progression. The study consists of a field survey to record the present vegetation assemblage pattern, laboratory experiments to investigate soil features, data interpretation with statistical software, and evaluation of the interrelationship between emerging vegetation patterns and soil features. Extensive field work was undertaken within a one-year period, observing the highly heterogeneous vegetation community in a state of succession towards natural rehabilitation. The study generated up-to-date, detailed insight into year-round biodiversity development, notably of species diversity and seasonal stages of its development. Both transect surveys and quadrat surveys were carried out to capture general and spatial vegetation distribution variances. Fifty-seven quadrats, deemed to be representative, are surveyed in terms of plant species present and physical and chemical properties of the soil. While the natural vegetation of areas surrounding the valley has already been mapped, it is possible to build a factually-based picture of the progression of on-site species-assembly in relation to taxa that are, or are not, present in the surrounding landscape’s natural vegetation. This revealed that, out of a total of 87 species found in the valley, 9 are classified as very rare species in Cornwall. The presence of local rare species suggests the Carnon valley and other post-mining sites potentially have a significant ecological conservation value. This diversity and biotic taxonomic content of the former mine site highlights the importance of allowing natural biotic colonisation to continue in the wider interest of biodiversity conservation and utilisation of such sites as future biotic reserves. Vegetation survey revealed a host of unusual species assemblage settling on the contaminated soil, which is especially true in the community around ditches. The significantly high species richness and presence of rare species in the ditch community indicates the potential of an edge effect, which has a benefit for biodiversity and may be applied in mine site rehabilitation. The prominent high species richness in the core area (excluding the ditch community) of the Lower valley (75 species compared to 18 10 species in the Middle valley) emphasizes the value of heterogeneity. Bulldozing and human disturbance proved to be effective to improve vegetation coverage, but failed to promote biodiversity recovery. To investigate the effect of chemical contaminants on vegetation development, data is interpreted with ordination techniques such as redundancy analysis (RA) and principal component analysis (PCA). Both techniques indicate that arsenic and copper have a negative impact on vegetation development. Absorbed arsenic or phosphate exchangeable arsenic were found to be the most influential fractions of total arsenic in the soil which affect local species richness and biodiversity. Controlling arsenic fractionation is therefore an important strategy towards supporting vegetation recovery. The thesis postulates that sites with mine waste have special conservation value and that an edge effect may exist -from observing relatively high species diversity in zones along ditches. Water availability has great influence in ditch community development, but is remains unclear how it interacts with other factors to contribute to biodiversity development. The study shows the potential of natural rehabilitation, which should be considered as an option when planning for rehabilitation of former mine sites.

Marine animals are increasingly threatened by a combination of reduced environmental oxygen (hypoxia) and chronically rising sea temperatures. Our current understanding of the effects of temperature on hypoxic performance is based predominantly upon studies of acute warming demonstrating reductions in hypoxic performance in numerous species. However, these studies do not take account of the possibility for altered performance via thermal acclimation. They are also largely focused at the organismal level with integration of different levels of biological organisation just beginning to appear. This thesis takes an integrative approach to investigate the effects of thermal acclimation on hypoxia thresholds using gammarid amphipods as models. The metabolic, biochemical and transcriptomic responses to hypoxia in isolation were first characterised in the brackishwater amphipod Gammarus chevreuxi. The consequences of warm acclimation for hypoxic performance were then identified and compared across closely-related gammarid species. Finally, the underpinning molecular mechanisms driving altered metabolic responses to hypoxia were investigated in the intertidal amphipod Echinogammarus marinus. This thesis demonstrates that, firstly, the integrated responses to hypoxia in isolation are complex and dependent upon the severity of hypoxia organisms experience. Secondly, thermal acclimation may enhance oxyregulatory capacity under hypoxia in some species, contrary to predictions from studies of acute warming, which may be associated with warm acclimated changes to metabolic rate. Thus, some species with a greater capacity for thermal acclimation may cope better with increasingly hypoxic environments. Intraspecific alterations to metabolic performance under declining oxygen tensions may be associated with widespread change at the molecular level. Warm acclimated E. marinus displayed a greater degree of hypometabolism under hypoxia compared to cold acclimated individuals, which may be associated with transcriptional changes occurring during the acclimation period associated with reductions in cellular energy demand. Thermal acclimation therefore induces changes at multiple levels of organisation which may prepare for hypoxia. Acclimation should be considered in any attempt to predict the consequences of future climate change driven hypoxia on marine species.

There is a growing international body of literature on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) effectiveness, but to date little EIA-related research has been undertaken in Iran despite of its inception in 1994. This research, therefore, aims to evaluate Iran’s EIA system, examine its effectiveness and provide recommendations to enhance it. In doing so the first section of this research undertakes an evaluation of the Iranian EIA system, focusing on EIA legislation, administration and processes. This research then examines EIA effectiveness in Iran by looking at water management in the Urmia Lake Basin (ULB). ULB was used as a case study area to investigate the extent to which EIA is delivering environmental protection within the water sector in Iran. In doing so, an EIA effectiveness framework is developed and applied for assessing the extent to which EIA has been effective in the ULB. The research helps in establishing that in Iran, environmental consideration is absent above the project level but even for EIA, the activities are rather restricted. EIA is not able to address and mitigate the negative effects of extensive water exploitation through dam building. Based on the findings, some recommendations are provided in the last section of this research. These were further developed in consideration of EIA reviews undertaken in other countries and opinions of Iranian EIA experts were also incorporated which were collected through semi-structured interviews. This research contributes to academic literature in three important ways: First, it provides a thorough review of the Iranian EIA system. Second, it confirms that EIA is not procedurally and substantively effective by examining EIA effectiveness in Iranian water management sector. It also reveals how contextual factors can constraint EIA effectiveness in Iran. Finally, it provides recommendations to improve Iran’s EIA system by evaluating the feasibility of adopting these ‘recommendations’ within Iran, taking into consideration the contextual factors of the country.

EIA's contribution to increased environmental awareness is a posited means by which EIA's contribution to a substantive level of environmental protection can be measured. However, little research has been done to evaluate and properly contextualise this increased environmental awareness in members of the public who participate in EIA and its associated processes of public participation. Utilising a Foucauldian understanding of power and governmentality, this research has shown how this process of becoming environmentally aware takes place within a broader application of governmental power and it is within this context which the success (or otherwise) of steering towards a greater environmental awareness must be evaluated. The biopolitical intentions EIA has for managing environmental life in general draws strict boundaries of expertise and authority in governing the environment, and as products of this formation of governmental power the public become subjects of expert direction. In opposition to this, the public produced a rural environment and local community as defined and governed by forms of experiential knowledge, which although pertaining to a truth-oriented mentality of rule, exerted a similar biopolitical control over the environment and immutable form of authority and expertise within it. It is contended that for EIA to penetrate bounded environments and disrupt their totalising environmentalities, the tool must extend the meaning of uncertainty to explicitly recognise the conflict that exists between actors and their respective environments. In this way, EIA can contribute to a form of self-reflexive and -critical environmental citizenship deemed necessary for a thorough investigation into the political dimensions of the environment and its associated substantive measures of enhancement and protection. Employing a realist governmentality approach to the case-study of the 2016 public inquiry in shale energy proposals in Lancashire, this research generated discourse analyses of key policy documents and public contributions to the inquiry in addition to a 'lived experience' of the inquiry as a participatory space through participant observation. The key findings were that at the policy level, the participating member of the public is produced as both a trustee and an expert, heightening the potential for conflict. Further to this, the experiences of the public inquiry added to this potential by seeking to impose on the participant an individualised, silent identity which was directly contradicted by the public during 'non-technical' sessions who sought to participate actively and collectively. Within their contributions the public produced further internal conflicts, with aspects of this discourse relying on existing institutionalised forms of knowledge and expertise to respond to environmental problems, while in others asserting that localised and personal experiences were necessary. EIA as a technique of government can have a leading role in defining the environment in both a physical, surrounding sense and as a mentality. To do so and challenge essentialised and concrete ideas regarding the environment avoiding the acts of exclusion that underpin them becoming normalised the thesis builds on the analysis to make a proposition for a more effective agonistic EIA process.

Population growth, increasing affluence, and greater access to medicines have led to an increase in active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) entering sewerage networks. Wastewater in lower and lower middle-income countries use that use wastewater for irrigation may use untreated or poorly treated wastewater resulting in the potential for greater concentrations of APIs to enter soils in this way. Wastewater re-used for irrigation is currently not included in environmental risk assessments for APIs in soils. The addition of wastewater to soils changes the organic content and can increase the pH of soils, which will have an impact on the fate of any ionisable APIs introduced during the irrigation process. As the input of APIs to soil from wastewater irrigation is not currently included in the risk assessments, this is an area that requires increased attention. A study was undertaken using a modified sorption-desorption batch equilibrium method (OECD 106) to simulate the addition of synthetic wastewater (SWW) to soils compared to a normal OECD 106 study. The APIs studied were ofloxacin, propranolol, naproxen and nevirapine, and represent a range of API physico-chemical properties. These experiments showed that the changes to soil properties (pH and dissolved organic carbon (DOC)) caused by irrigation with SWW can change the fate of APIs in soils. The ionisation state of the API at the altered pH was more important for the positively charged propranolol than it was for the negatively charged naproxen and neutral nevirapine. The Kd and Log Koc increased during the sorption experiment in some cases with SWW. This has implications on the current terrestrial risk assessment where the trigger value for a more detailed soil risk assessment in at Log Koc >4. If the experiment is only performed in 10 mM CaCl2 as is currently required this may lead to unknown risks of APIs in wastewater irrigated soils not being taken into account. Three soil sterilisation or microbial enzyme suppression methods were investigated to identify how successful they were and if there was any impact on the soil physical chemical structure. Gamma irradiation, autoclaving and the addition of 0.2 g L-1 sodium azide were studied. None of the methods successfully sterilised the soils and some changes in soils were identified post-treatment. Autoclaving destroyed the soil structure, turning it into a fine powder and significantly increasing DOC. Sodium azide changed the pH of the loam soil but not the sandy loam soil. Literature suggested that gamma irradiation was the most likely to sterilise the soils with the least amount of disturbance to its physico-chemical properties but increases in DOC were identified in the current study. The changes to soils after sterilisation varied depending on the individual soil properties, indicating that soils should be studied on a case-by-case basis. Irrigation with wastewater provides continuous inputs of chemicals into soils throughout the growing season so it is vital that more work is done to understand the ultimate fate of pollutants in soil as a result. Wastewater has the potential to change the fate of chemicals in soils meaning that current risk assessments may not thoroughly assess all risks involved.

Biodiversity offsetting mechanisms are increasingly applied worldwide as a new solution to the current biodiversity crisis. The offsetting approach is idealised as a means to achieve no net loss of biodiversity. Offsetting mechanisms aim to quantify residual biodiversity losses and enable developers to account for residual impacts off-site. Despite rising global application, the effectiveness of offsetting is by no means assured. The question of whether and how offsetting can be operationalised to achieve no net loss has become a key focal point in debates surrounding their effectiveness. Environmental Impact Assessment, or EIA, has been portrayed as an obvious 'vehicle' for integrating offsetting into existing corporate management systems and planning systems, and therefore a key factor over how offsetting mechanisms operate. This research critically investigated the nature of integration and interactions between EIA and offsetting using a three phase qualitative research design, which brought together analysis of emerging policy, expert interviews and in-depth case studies.

Global Environmental Assessments (GEAs) have become influential processes in environmental governance, with the objective to gather policy-relevant knowledge on environmental issues for decision-makers. This thesis offers the first ethnographic account of the nascent Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) which, in contrast to earlier GEAs, aims to implement an inclusive model of expertise. Underlying this move are concerns regarding both the effectiveness of GEAs and their democratization. GEAs have also faced numerous criticisms for being dominated by the global North and for failing to consider the diversity of ways of making sense of global environmental change. Drawing on Science and Technology Studies and on the emerging literature on geographies of science, I view science and policy as being mutually entangled, rather than as two separate domains, and conceptualise GEAs as sites of co-production. It is important therefore to study how categories such as ‘science’, ‘policy’, ‘local’ and ‘global’ are produced and to investigate the practices and places through which knowledge is constructed as policy-relevant. I argue that, despite the aspiration to be global institutions that transcend specific national and cultural contexts and interests, GEAs themselves are situated initiatives which produce a ‘view from somewhere’. Using qualitative methods, I examine three processes within IPBES: (1) the choice of location for its Secretariat; (2) the development of its conceptual framework; and (3) the constitution of the Multidisciplinary Expert Panel. Results confirm that IPBES presents a number of innovative features but also reveal significant ambiguities as to whether IPBES is actually ‘opening-up’ its frame of reference and embracing multiple forms of knowledges and expertise. While IPBES aspires to provide the inclusive ‘view from everywhere’, the narrative of science as providing the disinterested ‘view from nowhere’ and the interest-riven context in which it operates undermines its ambitions.

To balance the economic development with environmental safety and human health, China has released chemicals management legislation for which chemical prioritization and risk assessment are key issues. To support these ambitions two versions of an environmental fate and behaviour model SESAMe (Sino Evaluative Simplebox-MAMI models), have been developed with different resolutions and structures in this thesis. SESAMe is applied to hypothetical chemicals to investigate the influence of environmental parameters on chemical persistence and long-range transport potential. The environmental distribution of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) in the base year of 2007 and future scenario in 2030 in China has been predicted using SESAMe v3.0. The efficiency of different technical improvements on reducing emissions and environmental concentrations is discussed using the future scenario. Six organic chemicals, triclosan (TCS), triclocarban (TCC), climbazole, benzophenone-3(BP-3), octocrylene (OC) and octyl methoxycinnamate (OMC), have also been modelled by SESAMe v3.3 to account for the chemical ionisation and the effect of environmental pH to chemical partitioning. The emission inventories of the six chemicals were estimated for 2012. TCS is used as an example chemical to explore the pH dependent environmental risk assessment for ionisable chemicals. Only limited freshwater areas in China were found to be in exceedance of TCS threshold levels. The influence of projected population, infrastructure,and environmental conditions on the use, emission and environmental distribution of the same six chemicals in 2030 was investigated. Infrastructure development, such as wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) was shown to be the most important factor that will reduce the chemical emission and environmental concentrations into the future. SESAMe models have been successfully applied to a chemical released to air and other types of chemicals released to water that are subject to potential ionisation. Model estimation is demonstrated to be good by comparison with the monitoring data collected from the literature. The application of current and future scenarios demonstrates SESAMe models are potentially useful to support chemical management in China and to identify key gaps for chemical screening and risk assessment.

This dissertation presents a new approach to addressing environmental degradation based on transdisciplinary ecological art. Transdisciplinarity is defined here as merging art and science to discover new insights. Ecological art is defined as an aesthetic practice that promotes environmental resilience. This writing will describe why those approaches are essential to restoring resilient bioregionalism. It introduces the author’s own heuristic perspectives and methodologies and demonstrates how they may be integrated with technology and science. The problems of accelerated loss of coastal (littoral) zone biodiversity, degraded water quality, and habitat fragmentation need critical attention. The author’s research goal was to present a replicable set of guidelines for identifying small points of restoration for wetland littoral zones (the coastal region between terrestrial and marine life) based on a case study called Ghost Nets, scaled to a second case study, Fish Story. Her novel approach included establishing relevant parallels from quantum physics and acupuncture to energetic systems. Additional specific analogies were explored from visual arts, theatre, music, dance, and performance art, to discover a holistic and integrated point of view. Parallels and analogies were drawn by interrogating the two case studies. An important aim of the study was to examine how certain restoration practices could be scaled up to the bioregional level and integrated with a special theory, Trigger Point Theory, to reinforce healthy ecosystems. This included an analysis of how restored upland ecotones and a different relationship to other species could contribute to restoration in the littoral zone. The analysis critiqued how anthropocentric considerations often fail to protect vulnerable water systems. The role of environmental justice for vulnerable human populations and ethical concerns for other animal species was included in that analysis. The author also claims that when artists work with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping, that may propel a new transdiscourse and eventually make heuristic information scientifically useful. Insight from the Ghost Nets case study informed data collections and GIS mapping for the Southern Gulf of Maine. Those insights and the mapping were used to analyze relationships between finfish abundance, eelgrass, and invasive, predatory green crabs. Conclusions were drawn that are relevant to coastal and fisheries management practices. The author used performative approaches to contribute expert witnessing to her conclusions. Questionnaires were used to determine how much community awareness was accomplished with the case studies, and assess effects on future behavior. By combining art and science methodologies, the author revealed insights that could help small restored sites act as trigger points towards restoration of healthy bioregional systems more efficiently than would be possible through restoration science alone. In scaling up (applying small models to larger systems) and applying these practices for landscape ecology, the author assembled a set of recommendations for other researchers to implement these ideas in the future. Those recommendations included the formal engagement of ecological artists as equal partners on environmental restoration teams.

This thesis investigates the mobilization of sustainability discourses in environmental impact assessment (EIA) by looking at two cases, in the United Kingdom (UK) and the Netherlands. EIA is a procedure used for predicting the sustainability impacts associated with project development. It is reasoned that, where adverse sustainability impacts are likely to occur, situated civil society stakeholders involved in deliberating these impacts will mobilize discourses on how the proposed development relates to achieving sustainability objectives. Yet a pertinent question is whether EIA accommodates sustainability discourse mobilization, not least when the mode of public engagement is taken into account. Premised on the differences in institutional design and political culture between the UK and the Netherlands, the thesis aims to investigate whether and how the external influence exerted by institutions and political culture on public engagement is manifested in the mobilization of sustainability discourses in EIA. By focusing on the largescale infrastructure development projects of High-Speed rail 2 (HS2) in the UK and the A4 motorway connection between Delft and Schiedam (A4DS) in the Netherlands, it is found that institutional design and political culture have influenced sustainability discourse mobilization only to a very limited extent. This finding has been consistent across the two cases, despite institutional and cultural variance. Furthermore, it is found that EIA did not accommodate the mobilization of sustainability discourses, reflecting the absence of meaningful spaces for civil society engagement particularly with the scientific justification of why the projects are necessary. The thesis concludes that institutional design and political culture do not significantly influence sustainability discourse mobilization in cases where the use of science and expertise mediates public engagement, further compounded by the strict procedural aspects of EIA. It recommends that further research on sustainability discourses in infrastructure development focuses on the complex relationship between EIA and project justification.

The emergence and evolution of environmental risks increases the need of government organisations to prioritise their resources for efficient risk management in a manner that is transparent and auditable. Many different data sources (including expert opinion and published data) can be used to inform assessments. This work evaluates and compares the use of two different data sources for environmental strategic risk assessment (SRA). Here, a developed SRA framework (Prpich et al., 2012) was applied to 12 environmental risks within the UK to characterise the environmental, economic and social impacts of a risk on semi-qualitative scales and provide a descriptive narrative. A structured literature search of peer-reviewed and grey literature was assessed for relevance and quality and impact values were determined giving equal weighting to evidence. It was not possible to identify likelihood data from the literature evidence, therefore the expert assessment was used for all risks. Individual assessments for the different risks were compared to expert elicitation data (n ≥ 3) where it was found that they provided similar risk assessments and referred to similar evidence. Where the assessments differed, differences in evidence were noted possibly due to publication delays or method rigidity. Knowledge gaps were noted in the assessment of ‘economic services’ and ‘social cohesion’ sub-attributes for both data sources. These results suggest that the expert elicitation validated the use of literature evidence for SRAs impact assessment, but in order to provide a robust SRA, future assessments could combine both evidence sources.

This research addresses the dual challenge faced by Burkina Faso engineers to design sustainable low-energy cost public buildings and domestic dwellings while still providing the required thermal comfort under warmer temperature conditions caused by climate change. Past and potential climate induced future energy demand for air conditioning has been investigated. It was found based on climate change SRES scenario A2 that predicted mean temperature in Burkina Faso will increase by 2°C between 2010 and 2050. Therefore, in order to maintain a thermally comfortable 25°C inside public buildings, the projected annual energy consumption for cooling load will increase by 15%, 36% and 100% respectively for the period between 2020 to 2039, 2040 to 2059 and 2070 to 2089 when compared to the control case. It has also been found that a 1% increase in population growth will result in a 1.38% and 2.03% increase in carbon emission from primary energy consumption and future electricity consumption respectively. Furthermore, this research has investigated possible solutions for adaptation to the severe climate change and population growth impact on energy demand in Burkina Faso. It has been found that shading devices could potentially reduce the cooling load by up to 40%. Computer simulation programming of building energy consumption and a field study has shown that adobe houses have the potential of significantly reducing energy demand for cooling and offer a formidable method for climate change adaptation. Finally this research has shown, based on the Net Present Cost that hybrid photovoltaic (PV) and Diesel generator energy production configuration is the most cost effective local electricity supply system, for areas without electricity at present, with a payback time of 8 years when compared to the business as usual diesel generator stand-alone configuration. It is therefore a viable solution to increase electricity access to the majority of the population.

Uncertainties can manifest within the different aspects of environmental risk assessments, affecting the validity of the risk estimate and, in turn, weakening the basis for risk management actions. This research investigated the issues associated with uncertainty characterisation and identification in environmental risk assessments. This led to the creation of a defensible typology of uncertainties, and the creation and validation of a novel uncertainty identification system (UnISERA), based on the elicited views of experts regarding the levels (i.e. magnitudes), natures (i.e. reason for existence) and locations (i.e. where manifest) of uncertainties present within different risk domains. The developed typology, drawn from an analysis of existing assessments, contained seven locations of uncertainty (data, language, system, extrapolation, variability, model and decision), with 20 related sub-types. The output from UnISERA, based on 19 aggregated elicitations across three risk domains (genetically modified higher plants, particulate matter and pesticides), showed that: the risk characterisation phase of assessments contained the highest magnitudes of uncertainty (the level dimension); uncertainties across all four phases of assessments existed primarily through a combination of lack of knowledge and randomness (the nature dimension); and data uncertainty was dominant in the first three phases, and extrapolation uncertainty in the final phase (the location dimension). In comparing the output from UnISERA to similarly produced results in the risk domain of engineered nanomaterials, the nature of uncertainty showed the highest degree of validation (90%), followed by the location (80%) and level (55%) dimensions. The novel approach to uncertainty characterisation and identification presented here will be of use during environmental risk assessments and uncertainty analyses, promoting an understanding of potential uncertainties, and allowing risk analysts to perform assessments with prioritised uncertainties in mind.

Impact assessment (IA) has attracted considerable attention in the worlds of research and practice. IA is discussed extensively and promoted widely as a means to enhance the rationalisation, control and coordination of policy-making. However, at the same time, there has also been disagreement based on whether IL is seen to reflect one single, or multiple rationales. This has, in turn, led to debates about whether particular IA experiences reflect one or a mixture of motives. This thesis therefore explores whether the different ambitions or logics that IA intends to promote can be seen as complementary, whether one dominates, or whether they are contradictory. By looking at the European Union’s IA system — through an in-depth study of five IAS — this thesis finds that while the logic of enhanced control plays a dominant role throughout the policy-making process — particularly during the later policy-making stages — the ambitions or logics of enhanced rationalisation and coordination also play distinct roles. This thesis thereby contributes to the debates about the use of 'meta-instruments' to address the three policy challenges of how to choose the 'best' policy option; how to steer public administrations; and how to coordinate policies across institutional sub-units. In doing so, the thesis departs from earlier studies on IA two significant ways. First, it examines IA as a set of procedural rules, therefore moving away from a focus on the role of the IA report in advancing (or failing to advance) the ambitions of enhanced control, rationalisation or coordination. Second, instead of examining each IA ambition or logic in isolation, this thesis acknowledges a multiplicity of ambitions. This multiplicity is not an aspect of diffusion across jurisdictions or because of policy 'context'; rather, it is a feature of the motives and ambitions of actors interacting and changing at different stages in the policy-making process.

Ecological impact assessment (EcIA) has historically been poorly performed, resulting in poor quality EcIA chapters. No research has been conducted to identify whether poor quality EcIA chapters result in poor quality mitigation and therefore potential net loss of biodiversity. A review of 112 EcIA chapters was conducted to determine whether there have been improvements since the last review in 2000 and which factors are linked with EcIA chapter quality, such as the introduction of professional guidance in 2006. The link between EcIA chapter quality and mitigation on completed development sites was also examined. Both mitigation implementation (whether the mitigation was put in place) and implementation effectiveness (how well mitigation was implemented) were investigated on seven case study sites. Implementation effectiveness was limited to a subset of habitat mitigation measures; grassland and marginal habitat creation and management. The EcIA chapter review identified significant improvements since the last review. However, considerable scope for improvement remains due to the low baseline established by the earlier reviews. The introduction of professional guidance has significantly improved EcIA chapter quality. Calculation of an EcIA chapter quality index identified that, on average, EcIA chapters only include half of the EIA legislation’s information requirements. Investigation of the case study sites identified high rates of mitigation implementation (84.1% of auditable measures were at least partially implemented). However, implementation effectiveness was found to be poor (only three out of ten measures achieved the goals stated in their EcIA chapters or Ecological Management Plans). EcIA chapter quality was found to be significantly linked to mitigation implementation but not to implementation effectiveness. This investigation has identified aspects of the professional guidance that require amendment to help improve EcIA chapter content. Recommendations have also been made for practitioners when recommending ecological mitigation measures. In addition, the requirement for further research into mitigation success has been highlighted.

Intensive industrialization such as the installation of large-scale port facilities, has equally negative effects, with repercussions that in general affect the ecological balance of the region and cause social disruption. The Suape Industrial and Port Complex, is now being developed in the northeast Brazil, in the State of Pernambuco. It is relatively advanced with respect to the infrastructural work, although the development of the industrial sector can be considered as a complete failure. This partial paralization in the implementation of the project, provides the opportunity to study new alternatives of development to the region, considering above all, the local environmental characteristics. The approach used in the environmental impact assessment of the Suape complex considers the economic, the ecological and the cultural aspects involved with the setting up of the complex. The methodology is based on four analytical functions: the description of the environmental systems of the region, the description of the actions of the Suape project, the evaluation of the environmental impact and the discussion of the impacts with recommendations to minimize its effects. It is hoped that this report can guide future decisions related to the development of the Suape region.

A general account of the Vegetation of Natal(Annals of the Natal Museum II 1912) forms a prelimin?ary paper to the present one, in which the more detail?ed ecological survey of this colony is begun, In the first part of the former paper the various factors that influence plant life in Natal - geological structure and soil conditions, rainfall and mists, temperature, light, winds, fires, and animals - were described and discussed. Even in the comparatively small area dealt with in the present paper, most of the types of plant formation determined by those factors are found. In a general paper, which deals with the vegetation of a whole county most attention is naturally paid to the climatic factors, but when a detailed analysis of the various plant associations in a limited area is the object in view, the edaphic factors are of most importance, consequently in this paper more attention has been paid to the latter. At the same time it is well to keep in mind how greatly the edaphic factors are themselves influenced by the climatic factors and nowhere can this he better seen than in Natal.