The Market and Investors Reactions to Mariana’s and Brumadinho’s Environmental Disasters: Sentimental or Rational Decisions?

This research carried out event studies to analyze the reactions of the market and investors in Vale S.A. to the collapses of the Mariana and Brumadinho dams. It also assessed the extent to which the causes attributed to the market reactions to major disasters in previous research has helped to explain the reactions of the market and investors to the collapses of these dams. The analyses have shown that, in the case of the Fundão dam, there was a relevant reduction in the abnormal cumulative returns of common stocks and ADRs at the end of the eleven days of the collapse, despite the fact that the daily abnormal returns were not statistically significant. However, the abnormal trading volumes of these securities in the eleven days after the dam failure were generally negative and all statistically significant. In contrast, concerning the collapse of the Brumadinho dam, the abnormal returns on common stocks and ADRs were negative, relevant, and statistically significant, and, after the eleven days, the losses were considerable. The abnormal trading volumes of the securities were all positive and statistically significant, but the reactions of ADR investors were more intense than those of investors in common stocks. Examining the causal attributions made previously, there are indications that the market and investor reactions to the failures of the two dams were probably derived from the expectation that Vale and the other companies involved would incur severe losses and high contracting costs in political processes that would follow to the disasters, and from the difficulty the investors have had to assess the magnitude of these losses and costs.

ASSESSMENT OF THE VISIBILITY CAPABILITIES OF FOREST FIRE LOOKOUT TOWERS: THE CASE OF GEMLIK, BURSA, TURKEY

In Turkey, there are forest areas that are sensitive to fire in the first degree, especially along the coastline in the Marmara region and the Aegean and Mediterranean regions. As a result of forest fires, which is one of the biggest environmental disasters on forest resources, approximately 10000 hectares of forest area is damaged annually. One of the important elements of combating forest fires is early detection. In order to achieve this goal, the correct positioning of fire lookout towers is of great importance. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate visibility capabilities of forest fire lookout tower in Gemlik Forestry Enterprise Chief (FEC) located in the city of Bursa. Firstly, the visibility analysis was implemented using in ArcGIS 10.4.1 to evaluate the existing fire tower in the FEC, and then considering the potential fire lookout tower in the study area, the visible areas from both existing and new tower were determined. According to the results, while 63.55% of the study area was visible from the existing tower, this ratio increased to 77.39% when the second tower was added. When only the forest areas are evaluated, the existing tower could see 71.73% of the forest areas, while the visible forest areas have increased to 83.36% when the two towers were taken into account. It has been seen that the visibility capacities of existing towers and potential towers can be evaluated effectively by using GIS-based visibility analysis.

Analysis of soil contamination with oil and petroleum products

The oil industry has a considerable role to play in the development of scientific and technological progress, it should also be taken into account that oil and its components are increasingly being used in various industries every year. Obviously, oil also has a decisive influence on the economies of individual sectors and the country as a whole. Therefore, monitoring the activities of oil companies is important so that environmental disasters arising from oil spills are avoided, and knowledge of techniques for dealing with such accidents is essential. Within the scientific article the composition of oil, its types depending on its density are considered, different methods of environmental remediation are analysed, including the stages of chemical analysis of soil, the most optimal method is selected, research on assessment of the level of soil contamination with oil and oil products is conducted, statistics of soil remediation are given, and relevant conclusions are drawn.

Paesaggi d’acqua in territori fragili

Environmental disasters and the high degree of exposure of cities to these risks are well known. What is evident is the close relationship between these disasters and urban transformations generated by sectoral approaches to landscape design that have made territories more vulnerable to extreme weather and climate events. With the aim of creating an open and sustainable spatial plan, the case study outlined in this article is intended as an approach to climate adaptation, even though in Sardinia the connection between climate change and flood risk has not been studied in depth and the evidence of this connection has not yet emerged.

Absorptive capacity facilitates adaptation to novel environmental disasters

Absorptive capacity–the ability to learn and apply external knowledge and information to acquire material resources–is an essential but overlooked driver in community adaptation to new and unprecedented disasters. We analyzed data from a representative random sample of 603 individuals from 25 coastal communities in Louisiana affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. We used simultaneous equation models to assess the relationship between absorptive capacity and resource acquisition for affected individuals after the disaster. Results show that the diversity of individuals’ prior knowledge coupled with the community’s external orientation and internal cohesion facilitate resource use. They go beyond simply providing resources and demonstrate individual and community features necessary for absorbing information and knowledge and help devise adaptation strategies to address the dynamics of changing economic, social, and political environment after the disaster.