• Title/Summary/Keyword: ecological impacts

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Environmental footprint impacts of nuclear energy consumption: The role of environmental technology and globalization in ten largest ecological footprint countries

  • Sadiq, Muhammad;Wen, Fenghua;Dagestani, Abd Alwahed
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.54 no.10
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    • pp.3672-3681
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    • 2022
  • This study investigates the environmental footprint impacts of nuclear energy consumption in the presence of environmental technology and globalization of the ten largest ecological footprint countries from 1990 up to 2017. By considering a set of methods that can help solve the issue of cross-sectional dependence, we employ the Lagrange multiplier bootstrap cointegration method, Driscoll-Kraay standard errors for long-run estimation and feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) and panel-corrected standard errors (PCSE) for robustness. The finding revealed significant negative effects of nuclear energy consumption, environmental-related technology, population density and significant positive effects of globalization and economic growth on ecological footprint. These results are also robust by assessing the long-run impacts of predictors on carbon footprint and CO2 emissions as alternate ecological measures. These conclusions provide the profound significance of nuclear energy consumption for environmentally sustainable development in the top ten ecological footprint countries and serve as an important reference for ecological security for other countries globally.

A Study on the Use Impact on the Trail in Gwanak Mountain, Korea (관악산 등산로 이용에 따른 영향에 관한 연구)

  • Yoo, Ki-Joon
    • Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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    • v.25 no.1
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    • pp.111-117
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    • 2011
  • The purpose of this study is to establish trail use impact indicators, and evaluate the degree of use impact based on the understanding of the causality among the impacts on the spot. Theoretical reviews developed three indicators in terms of three ecological impacts, four physical impacts, and five sociological impacts, respectively. With this indicators, observation and questionnaire survey were employed on Gwanak Mountain Trail to measure the levels of impacts forementioned. As for the ecological impact, Some loss of ground cover vegetation was reveled near the trail due to trail use, however the level of disturbance by the naturalized and exotic plants was insignificant. Physical impacts such as soil hardness, enlargement of trail width were found intensified. The result of measuring sociological impacts showed visitors had expected higher level of crowding and encounters before their visit, therefore overall satisfaction level was positive, despite higher awareness level of actual crowding. Intensified continuing use of the trail is aggravating ecological and physical impacts on Gwanak Mountain trail, because of its location in a metropolitan area. Sociological impacts seem favorable at present, however if ecological and physical impacts were deteriorated, sociological impacts would also be affected. To maintain the quality level of use experience, managerial efforts to improve climbing culture as well as ecological and physical environment such as restoration of damaged areas are needed.

Quantification of Ecological Impact as a Basis for Evaluation (독일에서의 환경영향의 정량적 평가)

  • Schweppe-Kraft, Burkhard
    • Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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    • v.2 no.2
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    • pp.59-71
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    • 1993
  • Evaluation methods are employed in environmental impact assessment to choose between different project site, to determine the required measures to compensate impact and to decide whether the environmental impacts are more important than the social or economic effects of a project. The main obstacles that restrict use of quantitative evaluation method are a Lack of knowledge about the environmental effects (e.g. if impacts on wildlife or landscape amenities are predicted) and the relative importance of economic and social issues compared with nature conservation stability of ecosystem or landscape beauty. In Germany, the most common method for site planning is the "ecological risk analysis". It is a kind of multi-criteria-decision-method based on quantitative and qualitative description and ordinal ranking. The various kinds of "ecological balancing methods" that are more recently developed (within the last decade) to quantify the required amount for compensatory measures instead often use cardinal figures to express the value of ecosystems, the intensity of impacts, the need for additional measures to compensate for long recuperative periods when restoring ecosystems and so on. There are still only a view attempts to quantify decisions between environmental and socio-economic issues. Multicriteria-analysis as well as cost-benifit-analysis was used. Some new approaches which are still in a preliminary status are based on contingent valuation and on calculations for compensatory payments (instead of compensatory measures).

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THE WATERSHED MANAGEMENT AND ASSESSMENT USING GIS BASED ON HYDROLOGICAL AND LANDSCAPE ECOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

  • Lee, Ju-Young;Hopkins, James
    • Water Engineering Research
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    • v.7 no.1
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    • pp.9-20
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    • 2006
  • The watersheds are functional geographical areas that integrate a variety of environmental and ecological processes and human impacts on landscapes. Geographical assessments using GIS recognize the relationship between interdependence of resources and ecological/environmental components in watersheds. They are useful methodology for viable long term natural resource management. This paper performs through the using hydrological analyses, landscape ecological analyses, remote sensing, and GIS. Indicators are items or measures that represent key components of the small watersheds, and they are developed to be evaluated. Some indicators are described that they represent watershed condition and trend as well as focus on physical, biological and chemical properties of small watershed. Also, ecological functions such as stability, resilience, and sensitivity are inferred from them. The model implemented in GIS allows to reflect the ecological and hydrological functioning of watershed. Methodology from image analysis, landscape ecological analysis, spatial interpolation, and numerical process modeling are integrated within GIS to provide assessment for eco-logical/environmental condition. Results are described from the small watershed of Gwynns Falls in Baltimore County and Baltimore City, Maryland, an area of about 66.5 square miles. The small watershed within Gwynns Falls watershed are subject to a number of land-use. But it is predominantly urban, with significantly lesser amounts of forest and agriculture. The increasing urbanization is ass-coiated with ecological/environmental impacts and citizen conflicts.

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Conservation of Satoyama Landscapes for the Restoration of Ecological Integrity of Urban Area in Japan

  • Yokohari, Makoto;Kurita, Hideharu;Amati, Marco
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture International Edition
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    • no.1
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    • pp.43-52
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    • 2001
  • One of the major environmental issues Japanese cities is now facing with is the conservation of seminatural landscapes for the restoration of ecological integrity of urban areas. The satoyama landscape, which includes coppice woodlands, agricultural areas and rural settlements, is seen as an indispensable semi-natural landscape, formed as a result of man-nature interaction. However, because of the loss of the economic viability they are now abandoned and in the process of losing their ecological values. Today a number of local municipalities as well as NPO groups are involved in the conservation projects of these landscapes. Although satoyama landscapes are commonly believed to have maintained their character over the years, historical studies have revealed that these landscapes have experienced constant and dynamic changes due to a variation in human impacts. It is therefore understood that the conservation projects on satoyama landscapes should not intend to restore their past condition, but should wet the goal of maintaining their dynamic character by promoting ecological roles which the landscapes may play in the contemporary world. EXPO2005 project in Aichi Prefecture is a good example of a development project underway on satoyama landscapes which intend to conserve the landscapes by stimulating contemporary ecological for them. In EXPO2005 project the key issue was the conservation of semi-natural landscapes formed by constant and intensive human impacts over the centuries and thus allowing endemic and endangered species to be accommodated. The planning team proposed a scheme to restore economic viability of satoyama landscapes. The scheme involves re-introducing intensive human impacts through a new management system with an innovative technology. This may restore the economic viability of lumbers provided form satoyama woodlands. EXPO2005 is understood as a model case which stimulates contemporary ecological functions of satoyama landscapes by applying innovative planning concepts.

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Comparative Study of Regional-scale Ecological Risk Assessment used in Developed Countries (지역단위 생태위해성평가 선진국사례 분석)

  • Shin, Yu-Jin;Lee, Woo-Mi;An, Youn-Joo
    • Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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    • v.25 no.2
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    • pp.169-177
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    • 2010
  • Ecological risk assessment (ERA) has been used to establish environmental quality standards or evaluate ecological risk in site-specific areas. The scope of ERA was expanded based on regions, and the concept of regional-scale ecological risk assessment was recently introduced in developed countries. In the present study, regional ERA approaches of relative risk model (RRM), contaminants in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems (CATS) model, and procedure for ecological tired assessment of risks (PETAR) in advanced countries were extensively investigated. Regional ERA was compared with traditional ERA process. Stressors, receptor and response in traditional ERA were replaced with sources of stressors, habitats, and ecological impacts, respectively in regional ERA. This study introduces the concept and assessment process of regional ERA, and provides a wide perspective how the relative ERA could be applied in Korean ecosystem.

Determining Key Ecological Indicators for Urban Land Consolidation

  • Kuo-Liang Lin
    • International conference on construction engineering and project management
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    • 2009.05a
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    • pp.513-524
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    • 2009
  • Urban land consolidation, which is to reform land parcels to remove fragmentation and produce ideal blocks, is an effective means for urban renewal. Successful urban land consolidation brings out great benefits to the city officials as well as general public, such as improved city image, increased land value, and more effective land use. However, urban land consolidation can be detrimental to environment, especially in the ecological aspects, while the execution of land consolidation has been focused solely on development for the sake of human benefits. To remove negative effects of urban land consolidation to the ecological system, this paper is intended to establish a set of criteria for evaluating ecological impacts of an urban land consolidation plan. Firstly, key ecological indicators are identified using a special group decision-making process called "habitual domain analysis" and then individual weighting of each indicator is recorded by analytical hierarchy process. An urban ecological evaluation model with 4 levels and 23 indicators is thus developed.

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Landscape Ecological Changes of Large Dams and Reservoir in China

  • Lu, Jianbo;Zhao, Xingzheng;Ding, Lizhong
    • The Korean Journal of Ecology
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    • v.27 no.1
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    • pp.9-13
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    • 2004
  • Dams are distributed widely in all over the world. China is one of the countries which have the most dams in the world. The construction of dams promotes consumedly to the development of economy and society, at the same time, brings many ecological and social problems. In China, the landscape ecological changes are caused by the construction of dams. These changes are long term or short term, and some of these changes are positive, others are negative. Solving these issues need do a lot of circumspect work in location choosing, planning and designing, practicing and protection of the up reservoir basin and the whole basin and so on. The construction of dams should be implemented by reasonable landscape planning, ecological environment protection in order to realize sustainable development.