Books

The environmental impact assessment (EIA) system in Uzbekistan was inherited from the USSR and is centred on state environmental review, a procedure for reviewing the impacts of proposed activities by environmental authorities. This is proving to be a less effective tool of environmental protection in the new political and economic conditions. Since the collapse of the USSR, the Uzbekistani EIA system has undergone gradual reform but the national EIA system remains almost identical to the ‘socialist’ system. At the same time, some elements are similar to those of EIA systems used in developed countries. The shortcomings of the system include unclear screening provisions and lack of public participation. The paper analyses strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the development of EIA in Uzbekistan, taking into account various political and economic factors.     

Public participation in EIA and attitude formation

Although public participation in EIAs aims for public acceptance, it does not guarantee the project (of which the EIA is part) is accepted. Moreover, when citizens participate in EIAs, they develop attitudes towards the project itself, and towards the broader policy. This paper addresses the complex relationship between participating in EIA studies and accepting policies. We first discuss what attitudes can develop towards a project, and how they may influence the perception of the broader policy sector and the attitude towards policy processes. We distinguish four attitudes and show they are present in a dike-relocation case in the Netherlands. We further show that different experiences in the EIA led to different project evaluations and this impacted stakeholders' attitudes to participation, projects and policy-making. We found four aspects of the EIA process of this project that partly explain the arisen difference in project attitudes. These aspects are important to consider in the design and management of participative EIAs.     

The quality of environmental impact statements and environmental impact assessment practice in Bangladesh

This paper investigates the quality of environmental impact statements (EISs) and gives us an understanding about the performance of environmental impact assessment (EIA) practice in Bangladesh. EIA has been formally practised in Bangladesh since 1995.However, no study has yet been conducted on the quality of EISs. This study fills this gap. This empirical study shows that the quality of EISs in Bangladesh is ‘just satisfactory’ only. A significant proportion of EISs (34%) are still unsatisfactory. Finally, possible factors affecting the quality of EISs are examined and measures to improve the quality of EISs are recommended. The findings will be useful to EIA practitioners and other stakeholders in Bangladesh. This study will also provide a general guideline for other developing countries with similar socio-economic context.     

Improving access to biodiversity data for,and from,EIAs – a data publishing framework built to global standards

Biodiversity information obtained during environmental impact assessments (EIAs) is rarely accessible for other uses following the completion of the EIA. Such data need to be made readily accessible; adding them to publicly accessible national datasets is important if biodiversity science, conservation and future decisions based on environmental assessment are to benefit from new biodiversity data and improved biodiversity data coverage. An ‘EIA Biodiversity Data Publishing Framework’, based on the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) global standards, is thus proposed to meet this need. This paper outlines the GBIF-catalysed initiative to establish such an operational framework for uptake by the EIA community, as well as options that are available for data publishing in the absence of such a framework. It reviews the current state of accessibility and management of the primary biodiversity data associated with EIA studies, and highlights the urgent need for uptake of a range of data-publishing tools and best practices for making EIA biodiversity data exchangeable using globally accepted standards. Lessons learnt from pilot projects in India and South Africa underline the call for the rapid uptake of a national-to-global scale EIA Biodiversity Data Publishing Framework.     

Assessing the utility of environmental factors and objectives in environmental impact assessment practice: Western Australian insights

Environmental factors and objectives are formally identified during the scoping stage of environmental impact assessment (EIA) to structure and focus individual assessments. Environmental factors are broad components of the environment, while objectives set the desired outcome for a specific factor. This research assesses the utility of environmental factors and objectives in EIA practice based upon a combination of literature review and interviews with 21 EIA practitioners from Western Australia. Further to providing focus and structure for EIA, practitioners also use environmental factors and objectives for decision-making throughout the process. The majority of practitioners also note that factors and objectives are value adding and useful to their EIA practice. Due to their inherent subjective natures, interviewees noted a lack of consistency regarding how to meet the objectives and challenges in determining the significance of impacts on a factor. Identified opportunities to enhance use of objectives and factors in EIA included provision of more guidance, especially criteria or standards to apply and improve knowledge sharing between EIA stakeholders.     

危险废物安全填埋环境影响评价应重点关注的重点

危险废物具有毒性、易燃性、腐蚀性、反应性和感染性,如果长期暴露于环境之中会对生态环境和人类健康造成巨大伤害,所以安全而有效的处置危险废物具有重要意义。安全填埋是危险废物集中处置必不可少的重要方式之一。文章根据危险废物填埋处置项目的特点,归纳并阐述了该项目环境影响评价中应重点关注的几个问题,从而为这类项目的环境影响评价工作提供参考,也为环境保护行政主管部门的审批提供充分依据。     

Transportation energy in Swedish towns and regions

An investigation of 97 towns and 15 commuting regions in Sweden shows that the developmental pattern has a significant influence on the energy consumption for transportation. The main source for the energy data is the officiai Swedish statistics on fuel sales quantities in the municipalities in 1989, adjusted for fuel consumption in the agricultural sector. For the individual town, a dense pattern of development clearly gives the lowest per capita energy consumption for transportation. At the regional level, however, a decentralized pattern of residence seems to be favourable with respect to energy conservation, provided that each individual town and village has sufficiently high population density.     

欧共体MINEO项目对我国采矿环境影响综合监测的启示

结合欧共体应用先进地球观测技术评价和监测欧洲采矿活动环境影响（MINEO）项目的实施背景、主要内容和创新成果,面向我国煤矿区采矿环境损害监测与环境影响评价的重大需求,探讨了MINEO项目对我国采矿环境监测的启示,提出构建综合技术体系、推进环境参数遥感定量反演、开展高光谱遥感应用、发展多目标遥感应用体系、集成遥感及GIS与专业分析模型、建立示范基地与相关标准规范等建议.     

基于GIS和相关数学模型的城市环境空气质量评价系统

环境影响评价对于城市规划管理具有重要意义,它所处理的对象带有明显的空间属性。介绍了城市环境空气质量评价系统利用ArcView GIS对空间数据的编辑、管理和分析功能,通过在VB中开发的应用程序调用环境空气质量数学模型CALINE4和ISCST3,对城市区域环境空气质量进行计算预测,并在香港的市区发展规划项目中得到了成功的应用。     

应用酶免疫分析法测定PreS2-HBsAg中的pHSA-受体

我们应用酶免疫分析法测定了 PreS2-HBsAg 中的 pHSA-受体。该法具有较好的特异性和重复性,并发现经 Sephadex G-200层析与未经过层析的 pHSA,测得 pHSA-受体结果无差异。用该法分别检测重组蚕核多角体病毒的细胞培养上清及超声波处理的培养液,后者 PreS2-HBsAg 的 pHSA-受体浓度较前者提高3倍。