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1.
The open burning of plastic wastes is a practice that is highly prevalent across the globe, toxic to human and environmental health, and a critical—but often overlooked—aspect of plastic pollution. Most of the countries where such burning is widespread have laws and policies in place against it; open burning continues nevertheless. In this article, using data from ethnographic fieldwork in urban and rural sites in India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Zambia, we examine local practices of open burning and investigate why regulations to tackle it have proven largely ineffective. Adopting a harm reduction approach, we then suggest preliminary measures to mitigate the health risks of open burning by targeting those plastics and packaging types that are most toxic when burned.  相似文献   

2.
论中国城市生态健康与环境污染修复   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  
从大气污染、水体污染、固体废弃物污染、噪声污染和土壤污染体等方面,对中国城市生态健康面I临的问题和环境污染现状进行了分析研究。结果表明,城市环境污染形势依然严峻,城市生态健康受到严重威胁,日益成为制约城市健康发展的主要因素。在此基础上,提出了中国城市环境污染修复的建议,认为保持生态健康,城市环境污染的物理和化学修复措施结合生物修复,是构成生态修复的重要要素。在实际修复过程中,把物理修复、化学修复和生物修复更好地结合起来,才能形成有效的生态修复技术。应该进一步增强城市生态健康意识,复合的城市生态系统还需用系统、生态的方法对城市环境污染进行修复,以实现可持续发展和构建和谐社会。  相似文献   

3.
The degradation of air quality, an environmental consequence of anthropogenic activities, poses a challenge to human health. However, the corresponding control measures incur additional costs. This study presents an analysis of the health and socioeconomic benefits of air quality control measures and climate change mitigation. Multidisciplinary modelling was used for PM2.5 and ozone distribution to analyze the co-benefits of end-of-pipe measures and electrification as well as their period-specific impacts on human health and the economy. The results indicated that the long-term impacts of end-of-pipe technologies and electrification in Japan's residential, building, and transportation sectors could reduce premature deaths, caused by PM2.5 and ozone pollution, by 65,500 annually from 2010 to 2050. These technologies could save a per capita work hour loss of 3.64 h and avoid an economic loss of 5.43 billion USD by 2050. This study predicted climate actions would enable western Japan to benefit from PM2.5 control measures, whereas the entire country would benefit from ozone pollution reduction.  相似文献   

4.
Many actions to reduce GHG emissions have wider impacts on health, the economy, and the environment, beyond their role in mitigating climate change. These ancillary impacts can be positive (co-benefits) or negative (conflicts). This article presents the first quantitative review of the wider impacts on health and the environment likely to arise from action to meet the UK's legally-binding carbon budgets. Impacts were assessed for climate measures directed at power generation, energy use in buildings, and industry, transport, and agriculture. The study considered a wide range of health and environmental impacts including air pollution, noise, the upstream impacts of fuel extraction, and the lifestyle benefits of active travel. It was not possible to quantify all impacts, but for those that were monetized the co-benefits of climate action (i.e. excluding climate benefits) significantly outweigh the negative impacts, with a net present value of more than £85 billion from 2008 to 2030. Substantial benefits arise from reduced congestion, pollution, noise, and road accidents as a result of avoided journeys. There is also a large health benefit as a result of increased exercise from walking and cycling instead of driving. Awareness of these benefits could strengthen the case for more ambitious climate mitigation action.

Policy relevance

This article demonstrates that actions to mitigate GHG emissions have significant wider benefits for health and the environment. Including these impacts in cost–benefit analysis would strengthen the case for the UK (and similar countries) to set ambitious emissions reduction targets. Understanding co-benefits and trade-offs will also improve coordination across policy areas and cut costs. In addition, co-benefits such as air quality improvements are often immediate and local, whereas climate benefits may occur on a longer timescale and mainly in a distant region, as well as being harder to demonstrate. Dissemination of the benefits, along with better anticipation of trade-offs, could therefore boost public support for climate action.  相似文献   


5.
Estimating the impacts on PM2.5pollution and CO2emissions by human activities in different urban regions is important for developing efficient policies.In early 2020,China implemented a lockdown policy to contain the spread of COVID-19,resulting in a significant reduction of human activities.This event presents a convenient opportunity to study the impact of human activities in the transportation and industrial sectors on air pollution.Here,we investigate the variations in air quality attributed to the COVID-19 lockdown policy in the megacities of China by combining in-situ environmental and meteorological datasets,the Suomi-NPP/VIIRS and the CO2emissions from the Carbon Monitor project.Our study shows that PM2.5concentrations in the spring of 2020 decreased by 41.87%in the Yangtze River Delta(YRD)and 43.30%in the Pearl River Delta(PRD),respectively,owing to the significant shutdown of traffic and manufacturing industries.However,PM2.5concentrations in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei(BTH)region only decreased by 2.01%because the energy and steel industries were not fully paused.In addition,unfavorable weather conditions contributed to further increases in the PM2.5concentration.Furthermore,CO2concentrations were not significantly affected in China during the short-term emission reduction,despite a 19.52%reduction in CO2emissions compared to the same period in 2019.Our results suggest that concerted efforts from different emission sectors and effective long-term emission reduction strategies are necessary to control air pollution and CO2emissions.  相似文献   

6.
Marine plastic pollution is caused by humans and has become ubiquitous in the marine environment. Despite the widely acknowledged ecological consequences, the scientific evidence regarding detrimental human health impacts is currently debated, and there is no substantive evidence surrounding public opinion with respect to marine plastic pollution and human health. Results from a 15-country survey (n = 15,179) found that both the European and Australian public were highly concerned about the potential human health impacts of marine plastic pollution, and strongly supported the funding of research which aims to better understand its health/wellbeing implications. Multi-level modelling revealed that these perceptions varied across socio-demographic factors (e.g. gender), political orientation, marine contact factors (e.g. marine occupation and engagement in coastal recreation activities) and personality traits (e.g. openness, conscientiousness and agreeableness). Quantifying attitudes, as well as understanding how individual-level differences shape risk perception will enable policy makers and communicators to develop more targeted communications and initiatives that target a reduction in marine plastic pollution.  相似文献   

7.
Environmental and land defenders play a crucial role in attempts to slow down environmental change and address power inequalities in land-use and resource development. Yet, they frequently face repression, including defamation, criminalization, and assassination. Recent policy and media coverage initiatives have provided much needed attention to the protection and support of defenders, but there has so far been little systematic analysis of patterns and determinants of repression at multiple scales. Here, we use databases providing the best available worldwide record of cases of socio-environmental conflicts and killings of defenders to identify patterns of repression and potential determinants of killings. Globally, about a third of socio-environmental conflicts involve mass mobilization, arrests and direct forms of violence. These ‘high intensity’ conflicts are more frequent in Asia and Latin America. At least 1734 killings of environmental and land defenders took place in a total of 53 countries between 2002 and 2018, most of them occurring in Brazil, the Philippines, Colombia, Honduras, Mexico and Peru. Our multivariate analysis indicates that major country-level determinants of killings include income level, foreign direct investment, dependency on mineral extraction, regime type, frequency of protest movements, and size of Indigenous populations. We suggest that more systematic reporting and analysis of repression – including through subnational level studies for which we provide testable hypotheses – can help protect and support defenders, notably through conflict-sensitive investment policies and greater accountability for abuses.  相似文献   

8.
Micronutrient deficiencies constitute a pressing public health concern, especially in developing countries. As a dense source of bioavailable nutrients, aquatic foods can help alleviate such deficiencies. Developing aquaculture that provides critical micronutrients without sacrificing the underlying environmental resources that support these food production systems is therefore essential. Here, we address these dual challenges by optimizing nutrient supply while constraining the environmental impacts from aquaculture. Using life cycle assessment and nutritional data from Indonesia, a top aquaculture producer, we sought to identify aquaculture systems that increase micronutrient supplies and reduce environmental impacts (e.g., habitat destruction, freshwater pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions). Aquaculture systems in Indonesia vary more by environmental impacts (e.g. three order of magnitude for fresh water usage) than by nutritional differences (approximately ± 50% differences from mean relative nutritional score). Nutritional-environmental tradeoffs exist, with no single system offering a complete nutrition-environment win–win. We also find that previously proposed future aquaculture paths suboptimally balance nutritional and environmental impacts. Instead, we identify optimized aquaculture production scenarios for 2030 with nutrient per gram densities 105–320% that of business-as-usual production and with environmental impacts as low as 25% of those of business-as-usual. In these scenarios Pangasius fish (Pangasius hypophthalmus) ponds prove desirable due to their low environmental impacts, but average relative nutrient score. While the environmental impacts of the three analyzed brackish water systems range from average to high compared to other aquaculture systems, their nutritional attributes render them necessary when maximizing all nutrients except vitamin A. Common carp (Cyprinus carpio) ponds also proved essential in maximizing zinc and omega n-3, while Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) cages were necessary in optimizing the production of calcium and vitamin A. These optimal aquaculture strategies also reduce business-as-usual demand for wild fish-based feed by 0–30% and mangrove expansion by 0–75% with no additional expansion into inland open waters and freshwater ponds. As aquaculture production expands globally, optimization presents a powerful opportunity to reduce malnutrition rates at reduced environmental impacts. The proposed reorientation promotes UN sustainable development goals 2 (zero hunger), 3 (health), 13 (climate action) and 14 (life under water) and requires concerted and targeted policy changes.  相似文献   

9.
树木年轮的生长除受到气温、降水等自然因素限制外,人为因素造成环境污染的影响也不可忽视。通过对树木年轮中化学元素含量的分析来重建过去的环境自然变化和人为环境污染历史是树轮化学研究的重要内容。本文针对目前国内外树木年轮化学研究现状,分别介绍了树轮化学的研究资料、研究步骤、研究内容、研究进展和存在不足,并在具体内容上对树轮化学在环境污染方面的应用有所侧重。  相似文献   

10.
Air pollution and its related health impacts are a global concern. This paper addresses how current policies on air pollution, climate change and access to clean cooking fuels can effectively reduce both outdoor and household air pollution and improve human health. A state of the art modeling framework is used that combines an integrated assessment model and an atmospheric model to estimate the spatial extent and distribution of outdoor air pollution exposures. Estimates of household energy access and use are modeled by accounting for heterogeneous household energy choices and affordability constraints for rural and urban populations spanning the entire income distribution. Results are presented for 2030 for a set of policy scenarios on air pollution, climate change and energy access and include spatially explicit emissions of air pollutants; ambient concentrations of PM2.5; and health impacts in terms of disability adjusted life years (DALYs) from both ambient and household air pollution. The results stress the importance of enforcing current worldwide air quality legislation in addressing the impacts of outdoor air pollution. A combination of stringent policies on outdoor air pollution, climate change and access to clean cooking fuels is found to be effective in achieving reductions in average ambient PM2.5 exposures to below World Health Organization recommended levels for a majority of the world's population and results in a significant decline in the global burden of disease from both outdoor and household air pollution.  相似文献   

11.
Our understanding of whether adaptive capacity on a national level is being translated into adaptation policies, programs, and projects is limited. Focusing on health adaptation in Annex I Parties to the UNFCCC, we examine whether statistically significant relationships exist between regulatory, institutional, financial, and normative aspects of national-level adaptive capacity and systematically measured adaptation. Specifically, we (i) quantify adaptation actions in Annex I nations, (ii) identify potential factors that might impact progress on adaptation and select measures for these factors, and (iii) calculate statistical relationships between factors and adaptation actions across countries. Statistically significant relationships are found between progress on adaptation and engagement in international environmental governance, national environmental governance, perception of corruption in the public sector, population size, and national wealth, as well as between responsiveness to health vulnerabilities, population size and national wealth. This analysis contributes two key early empirical findings to the growing literature concerning factors facilitating or constraining adaptation. While country size and wealth are necessary for driving higher levels of adaptation, they may be insufficient in the absence of policy commitments to environmental governance. Furthermore, governance and/or incentive frameworks for environmental governance at the national level may be an important indicator of the strength of national commitments to addressing health impacts of climate change.  相似文献   

12.
Human activities in the Arctic are often mentioned as recipients of climate-change impacts. In this paper we consider the more complicated but more likely possibility that human activities themselves can interact with climate or environmental change in ways that either mitigate or exacerbate the human impacts. Although human activities in the Arctic are generally assumed to be modest, our analysis suggests that those activities may have larger influences on the arctic system than previously thought. Moreover, human influences could increase substantially in the near future. First, we illustrate how past human activities in the Arctic have combined with climatic variations to alter biophysical systems upon which fisheries and livestock depend. Second, we describe how current and future human activities could precipitate or affect the timing of major transitions in the arctic system. Past and future analyses both point to ways in which human activities in the Arctic can substantially influence the trajectory of arctic system change.  相似文献   

13.
While it has been recognized that actions reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can have significant positive and negative impacts on human health through reductions in ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations, these impacts are rarely taken into account when analyzing specific policies. This study presents a new framework for estimating the change in health outcomes resulting from implementation of specific carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction activities, allowing comparison of different sectors and options for climate mitigation activities. Our estimates suggest that in the year 2020, the reductions in adverse health outcomes from lessened exposure to PM2.5 would yield economic benefits in the range of $6 to $30 billion (in 2008 USD), depending on the specific activity. This equates to between $40 and $198 per metric ton of CO2 in health benefits. Specific climate interventions will vary in the health co-benefits they provide as well as in potential harms that may result from their implementation. Rigorous assessment of these health impacts is essential for guiding policy decisions as efforts to reduce GHG emissions increase in scope and intensity.  相似文献   

14.
We demonstrate a method for integrating environmental effects into a computable general equilibrium model. This is a critical step forward toward the development of improved integrated assessment models of environmental change. We apply the method to examine the economic consequences of air pollution on human health for the US for the period from 1970 to 2000. The pollutants include tropospheric ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter. We apply this method to the MIT Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis (EPPA) model, a computable general equilibrium model of the economy that has been widely used to study climate change policy. The method makes use of traditional valuation studies, incorporating this information so that estimates of welfare change are consistent with welfare valuation of the consumption of market goods and services. We estimate the benefits of air pollution regulations in USA rose steadily from 1975 to 2000 from $50 billion to $400 billion (from 2.1% to 7.6% of market consumption). Our estimated benefits of regulation are somewhat lower than the original estimates made by the US Environmental Protection Agency, and we trace that result to our development of a stock model of pollutant exposure that predicts that the benefits from reduced chronic air pollution exposure will only be gradually realized. We also estimate the economic burden of uncontrolled levels of air pollution over that period. The uncertainties in these estimates are large which we show through simulations using 95% confidence limits on the epidemiological dose-response relationships  相似文献   

15.
Globally, the area of sugarcane is rising rapidly in response to growing demands for bioethanol and increased sugar demand for human consumption. Despite considerable diversity in production systems and contexts, sugarcane is a particularly “high impact” crop with significant positive and negative environmental and socio-economic impacts. Our analysis is focused on Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), which is a critical region for continued expansion, due to its high production potential, low cost of production and proximity, and access, to European markets. Drawing on a systematic review of scientific evidence, combined with information from key informants, stakeholders and a research-industry workshop, we critically assess the impacts of sugarcane development on water, soil and air quality, employment, food security and human health. Our analysis shows that sugarcane production is, in general, neither explicitly good nor bad, sustainable nor unsustainable. The impacts of expansion of sugarcane production on the environment and society depend on the global political economy of sugar, local context, quality of scheme, nature of the production system and farm management. Despite threats from climate change and forthcoming changes in the trade relationship with the European Union, agricultural development policies are driving national and international interest and investment in sugarcane in SSA, with expansion likely to play an important role in sustainable development in the region. Our findings will help guide researchers and policy makers with new insights in understanding the situated environmental and social impacts associated with alternative sugar economy models, production technologies and qualities of management.  相似文献   

16.
Humanity's transformation of the nitrogen cycle has major consequences for ecosystems, climate and human health, making it one of the key environmental issues of our time. Understanding how trends could evolve over the course of the 21st century is crucial for scientists and decision-makers from local to global scales. Scenario analysis is the primary tool for doing so, and has been applied across all major environmental issues, including nitrogen pollution. However, to date most scenario efforts addressing nitrogen flows have either taken a narrow approach, focusing on a singular impact or sector, or have not been integrated within a broader scenario framework – a missed opportunity given the multiple environmental and socio-economic impacts that nitrogen pollution exacerbates. Capitalizing on our expanding knowledge of nitrogen flows, this study introduces a framework for new nitrogen-focused narratives based on the widely used Shared Socioeconomic Pathways that include all the major nitrogen-polluting sectors (agriculture, industry, transport and wastewater). These new narratives are the first to integrate the influence of climate and other environmental pollution control policies, while also incorporating explicit nitrogen-control measures. The next step is for them to be used as model inputs to evaluate the impact of different nitrogen production, consumption and loss trajectories, and thus advance understanding of how to address environmental impacts while simultaneously meeting key development goals. This effort is an important step in assessing how humanity can return to the planetary boundary of this essential element over the coming century.  相似文献   

17.
This study assesses selected impacts on tertiary activities of the anomalously hot summer of 1995 and warm period from November 1994 through October 1995 in the U.K. Over this period, the mean Central England temperature was 1.6 °C above the 1961–1990 normal, representing the highest mean 12-month temperature since the start of the Central England temperature record in 1659. The study is distinguished by its breadth of coverage, for it includes tertiary sectors and activities. Although impacts in tertiary activities are often not included in assessments of the potential impacts of climatic change, many of these activities are very important to the U.K. economy, and therefore even a small perturbation in output due to a weather extreme can have significant implications for the economy as a whole. The activities and sectors studied include energy consumption, retailing and manufacturing, construction and buildings, tourism, health, human behaviour, and fires. Both negative and positive impacts were incurred within most sectors. Net positive impacts (to the general public) were found convincingly for energy consumption and health, and clear negative impacts for buildings insurance and fires. Sectors which show clear differences in their response to winter and summer warm anomalies are energy consumption, tourism and health (greater sensitivity to winter anomalies) and buildings insurance and fires (greater sensitivity to summer anomalies). Changes in sensitivity to climate extremes may have occurred over time, and a comparison of impacts of the 1995 anomalous weather with the unusually warm dry period of 1975–1976 is approached for several series.  相似文献   

18.
Marine ecosystems provide a wide range of goods and services that directly and indirectly benefit economies and support human health and wellbeing. However, these ecosystems are vulnerable to anthropogenic influences such as climate change, pollution and habitat destruction. The European Union (EU) recognises the role of the blue economy in providing jobs and contributing to economic growth, with the EU Integrated Maritime Policy being a cross-sectoral framework within which maritime activities are managed and coordinated. Sustainability is a central tenet, ensuring that sectors such as aquaculture and offshore wind energy, which are earmarked for growth, must develop in ways that do not negatively impact the health of the marine environment. However, there is currently little consideration of how these activities might impact public health. The current research used survey data from 14 European countries to explore public perceptions of these issues, broadly focusing on 10 maritime activities, with a specific focus on five activities related to the EU’s 2012 Blue Growth Strategy. The respondents appreciated the interconnections between these maritime activities, environmental protection and public health, as well as the potential trade-offs. Preferences for policy intervention to protect public health from different activities were predicted by both marine contact (marine sector employment, recreational activities) and socio-demographic (political attitudes, gender, age) variables, potentially aiding future engagement and communication initiatives. Substantive differences observed across countries in terms of policy preferences for different activities, however, warn against generalising for the European population as a whole.  相似文献   

19.
China is home to one-fifth of the world's population and that population is increasingly urban. The landscape is also urbanizing. Although there are studies that focus on specific elements of urban growth, there is very little empirical work that incorporates feedbacks and linkages to assess the interactions between the dynamics of urban growth and their environmental impacts. In this study, we develop a system dynamics simulation model of the drivers and environmental impacts of urban growth, using Shenzhen, South China, as a case study. We identify three phases of urban growth and develop scenarios to evaluate the impact of urban growth on several environmental indicators: land use, air quality, and demand for water and energy. The results show that all developable land will be urban by 2020 and the increase in the number of vehicles will be a major source of air pollution. Demand for water and electricity will rise, and the city will become increasingly vulnerable to shortages of either. The scenarios also show that there will be improvements in local environmental quality as a result of increasing affluence and economic growth. However, the environmental impacts outside of Shenzhen may increase as demands for natural resources increase and Shenzhen pushes its manufacturing industries out of the municipality. The findings may also portend to changes other cities in China and elsewhere in the developing world may experience as they continue to industrialize.  相似文献   

20.
This paper assesses three key energy sustainability objectives: energy security improvement, climate change mitigation, and the reduction of air pollution and its human health impacts. We explain how the common practice of narrowly focusing on singular issues ignores potentially enormous synergies, highlighting the need for a paradigm shift toward more holistic policy approaches. Our analysis of a large ensemble of alternate energy-climate futures, developed using MESSAGE, an integrated assessment model, shows that stringent climate change policy offers a strategic entry point along the path to energy sustainability in several dimensions. Concerted decarbonization efforts can lead to improved air quality, thereby reducing energy-related health impacts worldwide: upwards of 2–32 million fewer disability-adjusted life years in 2030, depending on the aggressiveness of the air pollution policies foreseen in the baseline. At the same time, low-carbon technologies and energy-efficiency improvements can help to further the energy security goals of individual countries and regions by promoting a more dependable, resilient, and diversified energy portfolio. The cost savings of these climate policy synergies are potentially enormous: $100–600 billion annually by 2030 in reduced pollution control and energy security expenditures (0.1–0.7 % of GDP). Novel aspects of this paper include an explicit quantification of the health-related co-benefits of present and future air pollution control policies; an analysis of how future constraints on regional trade could influence energy security; a detailed assessment of energy expenditures showing where financing needs to flow in order to achieve the multiple energy sustainability objectives; and a quantification of the relationships between different fulfillment levels for energy security and air pollution goals and the probability of reaching the 2 °C climate target.  相似文献   

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