scholarly journals Multilevel Coordination and Cooperation during Implementing Supranational Environmental Legislation: A Case Study on Invasive Alien Species

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1531
Author(s):  
A. Roman ◽  
Volker Mauerhofer
Keyword(s):  
Alien Species ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
International Environmental Agreements ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Realistic View ◽  
Supranational Regulation ◽  
The Impact

Coordination and cooperation are necessary topics to strengthen international environmental agreements that improve action against worldwide challenges towards sustainable development and environmental protection, such as invasive alien species (IAS). This study aims to assess to what extent national and transnational cooperation and coordination influences the implementation of a supranational regulation against IAS based on an example from the European Union (EU). Data is used from a broader study, including 47 responses to an online questionnaire and 22 interviews completed by experts from two countries (Austria and Romania), together with in depth literature. Additionally, the IAS-Regulation is analyzed from the perspective of cooperation and coordination. The terms “cooperation” and “coordination” were found within the text of the IAS-Regulation 11 and nine times respectively, whereas their context was transnational and national levels mainly, and transnational, respectively. It was further acknowledged from the majority of the answers from the survey respondents that the national coordination and cooperation is weaker than the transnational level due to the influence of the national competence distribution. Results from the interviews are separated into ‘transnational’ and ‘national’ cooperation and coordination. They show that the majority of the 47 responses indicate that the distribution of competence is one of the main influencing factors on the implementation. It is concluded that the current situation of cooperation and coordination in Austria and Romania renders it difficult for the European Commission to receive a realistic view about IAS and the implementation of the IAS Regulation in the two countries; hence, it is difficult to offer helpful support especially due to poor national cooperation. The current study can serve as a blueprint for further studies. Even in regional integration contexts beyond the EU, it can prove helpful to assess the impact of different kinds of competence distribution on the implementation of common norms. Thus, this research can path the way innovatively and serve as a comparative example for similar future studies.

scholarly journals Introducing AlienScenarios: a project to develop scenarios and models of biological invasions for the 21 st century

NeoBiota ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franz Essl ◽  
Bernd Lenzner ◽  
Franck Courchamp ◽  
Stefan Dullinger ◽  
Jonathan M. Jeschke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biological Invasions ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Economic Costs ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Invasion Model ◽  
First Time ◽  
Different Levels

AlienScenarios, a three-year project starting in March 2019, will evaluate for the first time the range of plausible futures of biological invasions for the 21st century. AlienScenarios consists of seven project partners and seven integrated complementary subprojects. We will develop the qualitative narratives for plausible futures of global alien species richness and impacts in the 21st century – the Alien Species Narratives (ASNs). The ASNs further serve as overarching concept to parameterize quantitative models of global, continental and regional futures of biological invasions. We will also establish the first global mechanistic invasion model considering major processes of biological invasions such as source pools, driver dynamics and establishment rates. Further, we will assess the impacts of invasive alien species (IAS) in terms of economic costs according to the different ASNs. In addition, we will assess the consequences of different levels of implementation of the European Union Regulation on IAS. Providing some more detailed regional information, we will analyse changes of the functional composition of communities in mountain regions under different scenario storylines and will extend the analyses to the Global South using Panama as a country-level case study. Finally, the results of the other WPs will be synthesized, and the approach and results of AlienScenarios will be discussed with and communicated to stakeholders and the wider community. AlienScenarios will provide crucially needed insights for pro-active alien species management and policy. It will thus make an important contribution to global assessments and projections of biodiversity and ecosystem services, as well as regional policies (e.g. EU regulation on IAS).

The emergence of biological invasions on food chains: a DPSIR analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandra Faraudello ◽  
Donato Gualtieri ◽  
Zsuzsanna Szeles
Keyword(s):  
Biological Invasions ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Food Distribution ◽  
Food Chains ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to illustrate the emergence of a biological invasion and to explain the potential economic and social consequences on food chains. Straddling between ecology, social sciences, resource management and economics, invasion science is aimed at detecting, understanding and mitigating the impact of biological invasions on receiving ecosystems, including food ecosystems.Design/methodology/approachAfter a theoretical investigation about the main notions relevant for the invasion science, the authors practically review the kind of impacts deriving from biological invasions, mainly under economic, human health, ecosystem and biodiversity criteria.FindingsThe authors apply the DPSIR (Driving forces–pressure-state-impact-response) framework, originally developed in the context of European Environment Agency in this different context in order to assess the social, economic and environmental impacts of Invasive Alien Species (IAS). Responding to this emerging phenomenon, the European Union issues the EU regulation 1143/2014 which is the first strong act on invasive alien species.Originality/valueImplications – Food chains are complex systems that have multiple interdependencies both endogenously and exogenously, such as food production, food transportation, food logistics, food distribution, and so forth. However, it is rarely conceived the impact of invasion systems on the dynamics of food chains, although food sustainability is in turn impacted by how effectively and efficiently the various interdependencies have been designed or are working.

scholarly journals Decision-Making Processes in Controlling Exposure to Sunlight Supported by Simulation Tools: A Case Study in Warm Weather

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 4100
Author(s):  
Mariana Huskinson ◽  
Antonio Galiano-Garrigós ◽  
Ángel Benigno González-Avilés ◽  
M. Isabel Pérez-Millán
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Global Analysis ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Information Modeling ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Evaluation Tool ◽  
Simulation Tools ◽  
Building Information ◽  
The Impact

Improving the energy performance of existing buildings is one of the main strategies defined by the European Union to reduce global energy costs. Amongst the actions to be carried out in buildings to achieve this objective is working with passive measures adapted to each type of climate. To assist designers in the process of finding appropriate solutions for each building and location, different tools have been developed and since the implementation of building information modeling (BIM), it has been possible to perform an analysis of a building’s life cycle from an energy perspective and other types of analysis such as a comfort analysis. In the case of Spain, the first BIM environment tool has been implemented that deals with the global analysis of a building’s behavior and serves as an alternative to previous methods characterized by their lack of both flexibility and information offered to designers. This paper evaluates and compares the official Spanish energy performance evaluation tool (Cypetherm) released in 2018 using a case study involving the installation of sunlight control devices as part of a building refurbishment. It is intended to determine how databases and simplifications affect the designer’s decision-making. Additionally, the yielded energy results are complemented by a comfort analysis to explore the impact of these improvements from a users’ wellbeing viewpoint. At the end of the process the yielded results still confirm that the simulation remains far from reality and that simulation tools can indeed influence the decision-making process.

scholarly journals Physicochemical indicators of the influence of a lined municipal landfill on groundwater quality: a case study from Poland

2021 ◽  
Vol 80 (13) ◽  
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Przydatek ◽  
Włodzimierz Kanownik
Keyword(s):  
Groundwater Quality ◽  
Chemical Constituents ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Soil Medium ◽  
Detailed Statistical Analysis ◽  
Pollutant Migration ◽  
Leachate Water ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Carbon Concentrations

AbstractThe paper aims to determine the most significant physicochemical indicators of the effects that a lined landfill in southern Poland has had on groundwater quality. The results of the tests of groundwater and leachate water from the landfill for the period 2009 to 2016 were subjected to a detailed statistical analysis based on the 10 physicochemical parameters. A factor analysis was conducted considering the European Union and national requirements for landfills using analytical and statistical tools. The leachate contamination indicators from a landfill were analysed to reveal their interaction with the groundwater. The assessment indicated that there was an elevated and statistically significantly higher electrical conductivity and copper and total organic carbon concentrations in groundwater hydraulically downgradient of the landfill. The assessment also indicated that there were significant differences in the correlations between chemical parameters downgradient of the landfill and that there was a trend of increasing concentrations of some chemical constituents in groundwater. The adverse effects of the landfill were due to the deposited amount of waste exceeding 10 Mg per day. The impact was noticeable despite low and decreasing concentrations of heavy metals (Hg, Cu, Cd, Pb and Zn) in the leachate. The deterioration of the chemical state of the groundwater in the landfill vicinity could result in the extended time of pollutant migration or mass transport in the irrigated soil medium due to the limited efficiency of the leachate intake system or sealing screen after more than 20 years of landfill operation.

scholarly journals The ecology of ponds in the context of human activity and geography – environmental DNA and beyond

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karolina Bacela-Spychalska ◽  
Annette Taugbøl ◽  
Wiesław Babik ◽  
Maciej Pabijan ◽  
David Strand ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alien Species ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Environmental Dna ◽  
Genomic Variation ◽  
Genomic Diversity ◽  
Parasitic Fungus ◽  
Detailed Knowledge ◽  
Geographic Regions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Pond Ecosystems

Pond ecosystems are hotspots of freshwater biodiversity, often containing many rare and protected species that are not commonly found elsewhere (Harper et al. 2018;Harper et al. 2019). However, even if they constitute c.a. 30% of freshwaters by area, still not enough effort has been put into pond monitoring and management and pond ecosystems are hence relatively poorly understood. Results of ECOPOND project will lead to add valuable knowledge upon pond diversity in geographic gradient taking for consideration human impact by comparing rural and urban areas. The sample design in ECOPOND includes six geographic regions, spanning from the south of Poland to the middle of Norway, where we will sample five replicates of urban and rural ponds in close geographic proximity, making it possible to test the impact of urbanization on biodiversity and biotic homogenization across latitude. We will sample all ponds at spring and late summer, making it possible to assess also seasonality in biodiversity. ECOPOND will utilize environmental DNA and RNA to perform biodiversity screening. The extracted eDNA and eRNA fragments will be amplified with the use of several selected markers for vertebrates, invertebrates, fungi and bacteria. Comparisons between eDNA and eRNA metabarcoding are hypothesized to allow inference between present and past diversity, as eRNA is thought to be only available from live organisms in the community. Moreover, ECOPOND aims at testing the effects of selected invasives species that can have on whole ecosystems. By sampling a range of biotic and abiotic parameters describing studied ponds, we will incorporate the available data for the ponds and employ occupancy modelling methods to assess the habitat preferences of selected invasive alien species. Then we will develop a method that can contribute towards an earlywarning system of evaluating threats to ecosystem status. One of the focus species will be the parasitic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), an infectious fungal pathogen that has caused a number of amphibian declines and extinctions. The European amphibians seem less affected by the parasite at present. However, the fungi could be a direct driver of reduced genetic variation due to selection, or directly reduce the infected amphibian’s overall fitness by reducing the microbiotic diversity on their skin, which in many cases acts as a second immune system. ECOPOND will therefore provide data on genomic variation (using RADseq) for two amphibian species: the smooth newt (Lissotriton vulgaris) and the common toad (Bufo bufo). We will investigate populations of these species inhabiting ponds that are infected and not infected by Bd as well as collect data on their skin microbes (identified using metabarcoding). We will also contrast the genomic diversity between the replicated urban/rural setup and look for repeatable genomic changes. This setup will also be compared for the genomic variation for a potential native prey, the blue-tailed dragonfly, as will ponds with and without fish and/or amphibians (possibly also comparing between native and IAS top-predators) in order to look for predatory selective sweeps in the genome and transcriptome (experimental setup). All ponds will also be analyzed for over 20 water quality parameters and include data on a range of site characteristics that will be used as explanatory variables in all models. ECOPOND will compare large datasets across large geographic regions and will provide detailed knowledge of biodiversity patterns in vertebrates, invertebrates, fungal and microbial species, as well as genomic composition and skin biodiversity for animals inhabiting the same ponds set in an urban context. As a total, ECOPOND will obtain data on the location and status of biodiversity interests, gather data that can help in preventing the establishment of invasive alien species, and eradicating or controlling species that have already become established. And finally, ECOPOND will work closely with stakeholders and develop statistical techniques that can be used for monitoring, detection and protection of biodiversity.

scholarly journals Mapping the impact of alien species on marine ecosystems: the Mediterranean Sea case study

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 694-707 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stelios Katsanevakis ◽  
Fernando Tempera ◽  
Heliana Teixeira
Keyword(s):  
Alien Species ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Marine Ecosystems ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Impact

E pluribus unum? Language diversity and the harmonization of company law in the European Union

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 669-690
Author(s):  
Federico M Mucciarelli
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Company Law ◽  
Language Diversity ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Freedom Of Establishment ◽  
First Case ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Impact

This work addresses the impact of language diversity and nation-specific doctrinal structures on harmonized company law in the EU. With this aim, two emblematic case studies will be analysed. The first case study is related to the definition of ‘merger’ adopted in the Company Law Directive 2017/1132 (originally in the Third Company Law Directive and the Cross-Border Merger Directive); by relying on the example of the SEVIC case decided by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), it will be shown that scholars’ and courts’ conception of the definition of ‘merger’ varies according to own domestic doctrinal structures. The second case study is related to the notion of ‘registered office’, which is key for establishing the scope of several harmonizing provisions and the freedom of establishment; this paper analyses terminological fluctuations across language versions of EU legislation and the impact of domestic taxonomies and legal debates upon the interpretation of these notions. These case studies show that company law concepts, despite their highly technical nature, are influenced by discourse constructions conducted within national interpretative communities, and by the language used to draft statutory instruments and discuss legal issues. The task of the CJEU is to counterbalance these local tendencies, and yet it is unlikely that doctrinal structures, rooted in national languages and legal cultures, will disappear.

scholarly journals Ambitious Advances of the European Union in the Legislation of Invasive Alien Species

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joscha Beninde ◽  
Marietta L. Fischer ◽  
Axel Hochkirch ◽  
Andreas Zink
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
The European Union

Village Drill: A Case Study in Engineering for Global Development, With Five Years of Data Post Market-Introduction

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher A. Mattson ◽  
Amy E. Wood ◽  
John Renouard
Keyword(s):  
Development Time ◽  
Clean Water ◽  
Global Development ◽  
New Developments ◽  
Testing Conditions ◽  
Post Market ◽  
Realistic View ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Village

This paper presents a case study in engineering for global development. It introduces the Village Drill, which is an engineered product that has now — five years after its introduction to the market — enabled hundreds of thousands of people across 15 countries and three continents to have access to clean water. The Village Drill creates a 15 cm (6 inch) borehole as deep as 76 m (250 feet) to reach groundwater suitable for drinking. It was designed and developed by the authors together with a team of talented individuals from various disciplines. The case study presents facts and figures for the actual development and sustaining scenario and are unaltered for the purpose of publication. This approach provides the reader with a realistic view of the development time, testing conditions, fundraising, and the work needed to sustain the drill through five years of sales and distribution. The purpose of the case study is to provide sufficient and frank data about a real project so as to promote discussion, critique, and other evaluations that will lead to new developments that inspire and inform successful engineering for global development. As part of the case, the paper describes six fundamental items related to the endeavor; the product, the customer, the impact, the manufacturing, the delivery, and the revenue model of the drill.

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