[PDF] Evaluation Of The Efficacy Of Different Best Management Practices Under Current And Future Climate Regimes In Ludlow Watershed eBook

Author : Rong Fan
Publisher :
Page : 57 pages
File Size : 50,59 MB
Release : 2015
Category :
ISBN :

GET BOOK

As watersheds are urbanized, most of their surfaces will be paved. The impervious surfaces will reduce water infiltration, thereby, increasing the volume of surface runoff. Best Management Practices (BMPs) are used to mitigate these effects of urban land use by retaining large volumes of stormwater runoff. With continued urban development and the impending changes in our climate, it is essential to have a better knowledge of the effectiveness of BMPs in reducing surface runoff under different climate conditions. As construction and implementation of BMPs is often very expensive, this information will be especially useful in planning long-term development projects and in devising appropriate mitigation strategies to combat future changes in our environment. In this study, the main objective was to explore the most cost-effective arrangement of BMPs in reducing stormwater quantity under current and future climate regimes. The Ludlow watershed in Kenton County, northern Kentucky, was selected as a case study. A decision-support system, System for Urban Stormwater Treatment and Analysis Integration (SUSTAIN) (US EPA 2009b), developed by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, was used as an assessment tool. A SUSTAIN model for the study area was first developed, calibrated, and validated. It was then used to identify the most cost-effective BMPs arrangement under the current land use and climate conditions. To ensure that these BMPs will still be appropriate in alleviating future water resources problems, this study also simulated the hydrologic conditions under future climate conditions. The future climate scenarios were developed based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Annual Report 4 (AR4) B1 climate scenario (IPCC AR4 2007). The results of this study reveal the most cost-effective configuration of BMPs in the Ludlow watershed. By simulating the effectiveness of the BMPs in 2030 and 2050 under future climate change scenarios, the findings shed lights on the most appropriate BMPs design. This information may be useful to resource managers and planners in deriving sound water management policies.

Author : Philip Halteman
Publisher :
Page : 420 pages
File Size : 36,38 MB
Release : 2015
Category : Bayesian statistical decision theory
ISBN :

GET BOOK

The effective management of non-point source nutrient pollution continues to prove elusive. Though the scientific literature is unequivocal that all anthropogenic land uses contribute to non-point source (NPS) pollution, variable levels of contribution over time and across location and complex relationships between cost and effect make finding technologically effective management solutions difficult. In addition, these solutions are implemented in a world of scarce resources, diverse and often competing concerns and values, and intense public scrutiny. Clearly, making the best possible decision about how to manage NPS pollution under these conditions is not simple. My overarching goal was to develop and test several practical approaches that provide insight into the implications of management decisions and the trade-offs facing water quality managers using the challenges of restoring Lake Champlain as a test case. I first demonstrate a simple spreadsheet-based method for (1) identifying the areas of greatest potential for further phosphorus reductions, (2) estimating the potential scale of those reductions, and (3) identifying the severe tradeoffs that exist between cost and effectiveness at high levels of management. Results of this method suggest that better and more extensive management of developed impervious surfaces and annual cropland and hayland represent the greatest potential for phosphorus reductions. Farmstead management, combined sewer overflows, and wastewater treatment present little opportunity under the current regulatory environment. Results also suggest that due to order-of-magnitude differences in cost-effectiveness between management practices for developed and agricultural lands, substantial tradeoffs exist between cost-efficiency and equity in the distribution of responsibility for management. Second, in an effort to quantify the variability of NPS contributions over time and space, I developed and applied a Bayesian hierarchical modeling approach to incorporate annual hydrologic variability and uncertainty about land use areas into estimates of land-use specific phosphorus loading rates and watershed-scale residual loading. The model was able to replicate both average load and the variability around that average with an acceptable degree of precision. The results of this approach suggest that for some watersheds, unmanageable sources of phosphorus are dominant. Third, I applied a Bayes network to predict the effects of alternative management scenarios on phosphorus loads. Using evolutionary optimization and a multiple-criteria decision analysis, I explored the tradeoffs between cost, effectiveness, and distributional equity in the burden of management. Results of this study indicate that the probability that phosphorus loads will comply with regulatory targets is, in some watersheds, small under any management scenario. More interestingly, it also appears that there are large differences between watersheds in the ability of management actions to raise those probabilities, and the significant and non-linear tradeoffs between cost, effectiveness, and equity will make decision-making - and achieving restoration targets - difficult. Together, these approaches provide a foundation for a fuller and more completely informed decision-making process that incorporates uncertainty and identifies key trade-offs for the State of Vermont as it implements a new management plan for Lake Champlain.

Author : David Kenneth Leary
Publisher :
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 24,54 MB
Release : 2010
Category : Law
ISBN : 9789280811926

GET BOOK

This book explores the future of international environmental law in a world of ever worsening environmental crises. It examines the success stories and failures of international environmental law and argues that future responses to global environmental crises will be more about good environmental governance than just more treaties and laws. Environmental governance will need to accommodate the needs and aspirations of peoples from developed and developing countries alike and will have to be based on decisions and actions by a vast range of actors and stakeholders--not just the nation-state that has traditionally dominated environmental diplomacy. This also suggests a need to be cognizant of the close links to other areas of international law, including human rights. "The Future of International Environmental Law" tackles the major environmental challenges of our times including climate change, biodiversity loss, and polluction and overfishing of the oceans. It examines what we can learn from the implementation of existing international environmental laws over the past few decades. It also considers a range of emerging issues such as the management of the environmental challenges faced by the Arctic, nanotechnology, biofuels and synthetic genomics.

Author : Bruce Morgan Campbell
Publisher : CIFOR
Page : 273 pages
File Size : 32,18 MB
Release : 1996-01-01
Category : Forest ecology
ISBN : 9798764072

GET BOOK

Miombo woodlands and their use: overview and key issues. The ecology of miombo woodlands. Population biology of miombo tree. Miombo woodlands in the wider context: macro-economic and inter-sectoral influences. Rural households and miombo woodlands: use, value and management. Trade in woodland products from the miombo region. Managing miombo woodland. Institutional arrangements governing the use and the management of miombo woodlands. Miombo woodlands and rural livelihoods: options and opportunities.

Author : Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 220 pages
File Size : 47,79 MB
Release : 1992-05-28
Category : Science
ISBN : 0521438292

GET BOOK

An essential reference and companion to the 1990 IPCC Report on Climate Change.

Author : Britta Folmer
Publisher : Academic Press
Page : 558 pages
File Size : 45,89 MB
Release : 2016-12-16
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 0128035587

GET BOOK

The Craft and Science of Coffee follows the coffee plant from its origins in East Africa to its current role as a global product that influences millions of lives though sustainable development, economics, and consumer desire. For most, coffee is a beloved beverage. However, for some it is also an object of scientifically study, and for others it is approached as a craft, both building on skills and experience. By combining the research and insights of the scientific community and expertise of the crafts people, this unique book brings readers into a sustained and inclusive conversation, one where academic and industrial thought leaders, coffee farmers, and baristas are quoted, each informing and enriching each other. This unusual approach guides the reader on a journey from coffee farmer to roaster, market analyst to barista, in a style that is both rigorous and experience based, universally relevant and personally engaging. From on-farming processes to consumer benefits, the reader is given a deeper appreciation and understanding of coffee's complexity and is invited to form their own educated opinions on the ever changing situation, including potential routes to further shape the coffee future in a responsible manner. Presents a novel synthesis of coffee research and real-world experience that aids understanding, appreciation, and potential action Includes contributions from a multitude of experts who address complex subjects with a conversational approach Provides expert discourse on the coffee calue chain, from agricultural and production practices, sustainability, post-harvest processing, and quality aspects to the economic analysis of the consumer value proposition Engages with the key challenges of future coffee production and potential solutions

Author : B. Venkateswarlu
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 617 pages
File Size : 27,58 MB
Release : 2011-11-22
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 9400722206

GET BOOK

Crops experience an assortment of environmental stresses which include abiotic viz., drought, water logging, salinity, extremes of temperature, high variability in radiation, subtle but perceptible changes in atmospheric gases and biotic viz., insects, birds, other pests, weeds, pathogens (viruses and other microbes). The ability to tolerate or adapt and overwinter by effectively countering these stresses is a very multifaceted phenomenon. In addition, the inability to do so which renders the crops susceptible is again the result of various exogenous and endogenous interactions in the ecosystem. Both biotic and abiotic stresses occur at various stages of plant development and frequently more than one stress concurrently affects the crop. Stresses result in both universal and definite effects on plant growth and development. One of the imposing tasks for the crop researchers globally is to distinguish and to diminish effects of these stress factors on the performance of crop plants, especially with respect to yield and quality of harvested products. This is of special significance in view of the impending climate change, with complex consequences for economically profitable and ecologically and environmentally sound global agriculture. The challenge at the hands of the crop scientist in such a scenario is to promote a competitive and multifunctional agriculture, leading to the production of highly nourishing, healthy and secure food and animal feed as well as raw materials for a wide variety of industrial applications. In order to successfully meet this challenge researchers have to understand the various aspects of these stresses in view of the current development from molecules to ecosystems. The book will focus on broad research areas in relation to these stresses which are in the forefront in contemporary crop stress research.