Abstract The relationship between urban green, urban form and health remains unclear. This research explores health and urban green as well as urban structure as constituents of urban form. The objective was to develop a novel indicator (Neighbourhood Environmental Contribution, NEC) to analyse the spatial relationship between urban green and health (diabetes, mental health and self-rated health) on the neighbourhood scale. NEC performs more stably when regression models are adjusted for confounders. This suggests that better representations of urban form including the built-up structure of urban areas are promising.
In light of the ambitions of the European Union (EU) to achieve an ecological transition of its agricultural sector it is crucial to assess and continuously monitor (i) the uptake of main ecological approaches by farms and (ii) associated effects on farm performance, considering all sustainability dimensions (economic, environmental, social) jointly. Given these needs, in the present deliverable D5.1 of the LIFT project, we develop a novel indicator system, which combines the LIFT farm typology and farm performance data, covering all sustainability dimensions. The approach compares performance of farms in five ecological groups (referred to as ecological farming approaches or ecological farming systems) from the LIFT farm typology (Conservation Agriculture, Low-Input farming, Integrated/Circular farming, Organic farming, Agroecology) as well as possible combinations of these groups with a less ecological group, referred to as Standard farming. This allows us to depict whether ecological farms perform differently or have different trade-offs and synergies than standard farms. Based on this system, we carry out a farm sustainability performance assessment with the two main data sources in the LIFT project, namely Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data and data from the LIFT large-scale farmer survey, covering main farm types present in the European Union (EU) in several case study regions/countries. Additionally, we present in-depth analyses of further specific aspects, namely (i) the extension of the developed indicator framework to bio-economic models, (ii) the integration of the consumption and provision of ecosystem services into the developed indicator system through composite agri-environmental performance (AEP) indicators, derived from the body of secondary literature and region-specific stakeholder input, and (iii) working conditions and employment on farms in the context of an ecological transition. Overall, our results show the importance of considering trade-offs and synergies both within and between ...
Purpose Birds are biological indicators for environment health in which their sightings and abundance could reflect a certain situation or become evaluation tool for co-existence of another species. Here, the study aims to observe urban settlements with substantial forestation, may it be artificial or natural, and the occurrence of bird assemblage across time. Considering the foraging activity of birds hardcoded with sustainability, their spatial overlap resultant into service provision, which can mean, baseline occurrence or an expected encounter equates to support system for ecological vigour.
Design/methodology/approach From this, birds could indicate external environment vulnerability related to climatic fluctuations, whereby documentation of their arrival across spatial-temporal regimes allowed us to understand their distribution between residential and forested areas.
Findings Though urban birds are abundant and viewed less important for conservation, the existence of certain species such as long-tailed shrike and little green pigeon disclose the types of food they consume and, the other types of birds attracted to their prey. With regard, the sightings of these birds would mean an encounter with 20 or more other species at a bird watching occasion, though it is limited to the sightings of urban birds.
Originality/value Subject to criteria for green space, attaining plenty of bird species provides understanding of food availability, the support services and opportunity for urban birds to thrive in midst the opportunity for resources such as food, perching grounds and sufficient numbers of counterparts to reproduce into healthy urban bird populations.
Ecological indicators are widely used to support public action. Their proliferation requires critical appraisal of their normative framing. This article deploys a conceptual framework to reveal their underlying assumptions and worldviews through the critical exploration of the controversies raised during their making and use. It consists in focusing on processes of categorizing and quantifying the environment. Ecological indicators are simplified representations of reality. As such, they constitute social conventions which unite environmental realities existing in specific time and places, while excluding others. We study how they align or confront political constructions of territories or advocacy coalitions in relation to the causal relations they support and the scale at which they are built. We assess whether their ecological framing has become a resource for political framing. We question how far financial considerations and practical use have constrained the making and the use of indicators, with specific attention paid to path dependence from existing data. This article concludes by introducing the other contributions of this volume, by specifying how each one relates to the political appropriation of one or more designing steps of an ecological indicator, to the advantage of existing indicators, and to the effects of ecological indicators in policies. ; La multiplication des indicateurs écologiques et de leur usage dans l'action publique invite à mieux comprendre les cadrages normatifs qu'ils véhiculent. Cet article propose un cadre conceptuel pour étudier ces cadrages à partir des controverses qui ont émaillé la construction de ces indicateurs et leur usage. Il s'agit d'étudier les opérations de catégorisation et de quantification de l'environnement utilisées pour construire ces indicateurs. Comme d'autres représentations simplifiées du réel, ces indicateurs constituent des conventions sociales qui regroupent, mais aussi excluent, certaines réalités environnementales distribuées dans le temps et ...
Ecological economics is a major forum for discussion of theoretical and analytical aspects of measuring sustainability. The role of sustainability indicators as an evaluation method for sustainability within the emerging context of governance merits further analysis. Focusing on policy processes surrounding the production of sustainability indicators, this paper addresses two questions: what is the potential utility of indicators for policy; and in what ways can indicators influence governance? The former is addressed by exploring three disciplines with long histories of indicator application: public administration studies, urban studies and environmental sciences. The latter is addressed by distilling key perspectives from public policy literature on knowledge utilisation and policy learning, which become the foundation for clarifying the notion of policy-resonant indicators. This clarification is achieved by canvassing the spectrum of the influences on indicators and the mechanisms of their resonance in policy processes. The final section of the paper brings these arguments together by exploring two major insights in terms of challenges for ecological economics: strengthening indicator theory and practice by addressing four key ingredients; and mobilisation of indicators through their active use within the context of governance.
Ecological economics is a major forum for discussion of theoretical and analytical aspects of measuring sustainability. The role of sustainability indicators as an evaluation method for sustainability within the emerging context of governance merits further analysis. Focusing on policy processes surrounding the production of sustainability indicators, this paper addresses two questions: what is the potential utility of indicators for policy; and in what ways can indicators influence governance? The former is addressed by exploring three disciplines with long histories of indicator application: public administration studies, urban studies and environmental sciences. The latter is addressed by distilling key perspectives from public policy literature on knowledge utilisation and policy learning, which become the foundation for clarifying the notion of policy-resonant indicators. This clarification is achieved by canvassing the spectrum of the influences on indicators and the mechanisms of their resonance in policy processes. The final section of the paper brings these arguments together by exploring two major insights in terms of challenges for ecological economics: strengthening indicator theory and practice by addressing four key ingredients; and mobilisation of indicators through their active use within the context of governance.
Land use change constitutes a primary driving force in shaping social-ecological systems world wide, and its effects reach far beyond the directly impacted areas. Graph based landscape ecological tools have become established as a promising way to efficiently explore and analyze the complex, spatial systems dynamics of ecological networks in physical landscapes. However, little attention has been paid to making these approaches operational within ecological assessments, physical planning, and design. This thesis presents a network based, landscape-ecological tool that can be implemented for effective use by practitioners within physical planning and design, and ecological assessments related to these activities. The tool is based on an ecological profile system, a common generalized network model of the ecological infrastructure, graph theoretic metrics, and a spatially explicit, geographically defined representation, deployable in a GIS. Graph theoretic metrics and analysis techniques are able to capture the spatio-temporal dynamics of complex systems, and the generalized network model places the graph theoretic toolbox in a geographically defined landscape. This provides completely new insights for physical planning, and environmental assessment activities. The design of the model is based on the experience gained through seven real-world cases, commissioned by different governmental organizations within Stockholm County. A participatory approach was used in these case studies, involving stakeholders of different backgrounds, in which the tool proved to be flexible and effective in the communication and negotiation of indicators, targets, and impacts. In addition to successful impact predictions for alternative planning scenarios, the tool was able to highlight critical ecological structures within the landscape, both from a system-centric, and a site-centric perspective. In already being deployed and used in planning, assessments, inventories, and monitoring by several of the involved organizations, the tool ...
International audience ; Ecological indicators are widely used to support public action. Their proliferation requires critical appraisal of their normative framing. This article deploys a conceptual framework to reveal their underlying assumptions and worldviews through the critical exploration of the controversies raised during their making and use. It consists in focusing on processes of categorizing and quantifying the environment. Ecological indicators are simplified representations of reality. As such, they constitute social conventions which unite environmental realities existing in specific time and places, while excluding others. We study how they align or confront political constructions of territories or advocacy coalitions in relation to the causal relations they support and the scale at which they are built. We assess whether their ecological framing has become a resource for political framing. We question how far financial considerations and practical use have constrained the making and the use of indicators, with specific attention paid to path dependence from existing data. This article concludes by introducing the other contributions of this volume, by specifying how each one relates to the political appropriation of one or more designing steps of an ecological indicator, to the advantage of existing indicators, and to the effects of ecological indicators in policies. ; La multiplication des indicateurs écologiques et de leur usage dans l'action publique invite à mieux comprendre les cadrages normatifs qu'ils véhiculent. Cet article propose un cadre conceptuel pour étudier ces cadrages à partir des controverses qui ont émaillé la construction de ces indicateurs et leur usage. Il s'agit d'étudier les opérations de catégorisation et de quantification de l'environnement utilisées pour construire ces indicateurs. Comme d'autres représentations simplifiées du réel, ces indicateurs constituent des conventions sociales qui regroupent, mais aussi excluent, certaines réalités environnementales distribuées ...
Zugleich gedruckt veröffentlicht im Universitätsverlag der TU Berlin unter der ISBN 978-3-7983-2587-6. ; Die Evaluierungs-"toolbox" Eva.S dient als Instrument für Projektentwickler, zur Umsetzung von Projektideen und Networking in Praxis und Forschungsförderung zur Verarbeitung von komplexen Datenmengen. Eva.S ist ein nicht projektgebundenes Evaluierungs-System mit vielfältiger prozessorientierter Anwendung und kompetenter Kommunikation der Ergebnisse. Die angewandte Strategie zur Evaluierung mit den wirkungsbezogenen sogenannten "Indicator values" sind von großer Relevanz und weitgehend akzeptiert auf dem Gebiet Planung, Konstruktion und dem prozessorientierten Monitoring, um schon frühzeitig den "Zielerreichungsgrad" eines Projektes verfolgen zu können. Die wirkungsbezogenen "Indicator values" sind die Basis für die Projektarbeit im Netzwerk, die Visualisierung und das Verstehen komplexer Vorgänge in der Projektentwicklung und dem Fortschritt. Es gibt auf dem internationalen Markt viele Evaluierungs- und Monitoringsysteme wie z.B. BNB/DGNB, BREEAM, LEED, African Green City Index (GCI), Asian GCI, European GCI, ESTIDIMA (Pearls), GREEN Pyramids etc.; das neu entwickelte Eva.S Evaluierungs-System führt in einem sorgfältigen Abwägungsprozess alle für das eigene zu evaluierende Projekt wichtigen Faktoren und Indikatoren aus den international anerkannten Verfahren zur Bewertung von Bauwerken hinsichtlich Flächenmanagement und der sozio-kulturellen Problematiken zusammen. Die Eva.S Evaluierungs-"toolbox" stellt sich der Herausforderung einer erfolgreichen auf das jeweilige Projekt zugeschnittene Projektentwicklung, Erfassung der Auswirkungen und dem Management des Fortschrittes. Erforderlich ist eine international anerkannte Evaluierungs-Strategie, um ein der jeweiligen Situation und den baulichen Begebenheiten angemessenes wissenschaftliches Monitoring zu ermöglichen. Einsatz und Überprüfung von qualitativen und quantitativen wirkungsbezogene Indikatoren zur Erfassung und Bewertung der von den Projektteilnehmern geplanten und umgesetzten Maßnahmen wurden erstmalig mit Eva.S in dem Young Cities Projekt ermöglicht. Mit diesem Vorgehen war gleichzeitig ein "Rating" mit Noten von 1-10 (1 = sehr gut; 10 = schlecht) der geplanten und vorgenommenen Maßnahmen von Anfang an möglich. Parallel zu den einzelnen Arbeitsabschnitten des Young Cities Projekts wurde mit den Elementen des Eva.S zur ersten Datenerfassung, der Bewertung und schließlich zur Visualisierung in Diagrammen begleitet und ständig in der Rückkopplung über Eva.S Anwendung in fünf Arbeitsschritten optimiert: Datenerfassung, Datenorganisation in Matrizes und Indikatoren Formate, Eingabe in das Eva.S System zum Aufbau einer Datenbank, Überprüfung der Daten durch einen Eva.S "Prozessor" hinsichtlich der klassischen Qualitäten der Nachhaltigkeit (Ökonomie, Ökologie, Soziales), Bestimmung der projektbezogenen Indikatoren, Monitoring und Entscheidungs-Schleife zur Generierung der Ergebnisse einschließlich "Rating" und Zielerreichungsgrad sowie Kommunikation der Ergebnisse. Die Projektentwicklung endet nicht mit der Implementation, sondern es findet immer wieder eine Rückkopplung statt hinsichtlich der Evaluierungs- und Monitoringstrategien unter kritisch analytischer Betrachtung der Arbeitsabläufe und des "Ratings". Im Ergebnis der Bewertung lässt sich ein Handlungsbedarf ableiten. Das Eva.S Evaluierungs-System war im Rahmen des Young Cities Projekts zur projektinternen Evaluierung entwickelt worden. Eva.S wurde aber von Anfang an so gestaltet, dass auch andere Anwendungen und Projekte zu bearbeiten sind. Es wurden erste Probeläufe mit Daten-Sätzen des in sich abgeschlossenen REFINA Projekt zum Flächenmanagement erfolgreich durchgeführt. Die Eva.S Datenbank hat für das Young Cities Projekt 135 Datensätze verteilt auf 26 Dimensions für 3 Handlungsfelder (Field of Actions - FoA) und 25 Arbeitspaketen (Work Packages - WP) verarbeitet und verwaltet. Das Eva.S Evaluierungs-System arbeitet barrierefrei im Open Source / Microsoft Modus, die Daten werden über ein Drop-Down Menu eingespeist. Die Eva.S Projektdaten werden mittels projektspezifischen qualitativen und quantitativen Indikatoren nach den 3 klassischen Säulen der Nachhaltigkeit (Ökonomie, Ökologie, Soziales) bewertet. Der Teil Risikoanalyse im Eva.S Evaluierungs-System wurde in Anlehnung an die Ergebnisse einer MORIX Machbarkeitsstudie entwickelt und in Probeläufen im "feed back" überprüft und weiter optimiert. Das Eva.S Evaluierungs-System hat ein hohes Potential in der Anwendung als Prüfsystem in der Projektentwicklung, im Projektmanagement und bei der Entwicklung geeigneter Monitoring Strategien. Eva.S ist eine web-basierte Anwendung und hat über eine Internet Adresse http://yc.liebrenz.info/refina/index.php jederzeit einen weltweiten Zugriff zur Daten-Eingabe, Bewertung und Visualisierung. Ein Trainingsprogramm für Anwender von Eva.S aus den Bereichen Projektentwicklung und politischer Entscheidungsfindung ist in Vorbereitung. ; The evaluation tool Eva.S serves as an instrument for project developer and project participants to handle and present their overall results in a clear and manageable way. Because of the numerous projects and possibilities of Eva.S and its multiple applications and visualization of the processes for interpretation and competent communication to public the indicators values and the investigated evaluation strategy are of significant relevance and acceptance for planning, construction and process orientated monitoring as well as the "grade of achievements" for such projects. The investigated process orientated Indicator values are the fundament for net working, visualization and for understanding of complex systems in project development and success orientated achievements. There are many evaluation and monitoring system on the market like the BNB/DGNB, BREEAM, LEED, African Green City Index (GCI), Asian GCI, European GCI, ESTIDIMA (Pearls), GREEN Pyramids. The newly established Eva.S evaluation tool takes in account most of the pro and contras of all these internationally well accepted concepts. Eva.S represents a challenge as much as a competent opportunity and toolbox for a successful and tailored project development, assessment and management of the progresses. An internationally well accepted evaluation strategy is necessary to enable a relevant, scientific monitoring to capture and assess qualitative and quantitative effects related indicators of the measures planned and/or realized the first time by Eva.S and the Young Cities project. The impact of qualitative and quantitative effect related indicators are rated at the same level. The Young Cities project working phases were attended from the first moment on during data mining, evaluation and finally by visualization of the results by so-called radar diagrams. There are five relevant steps of work flow for managing the data. Starting with data mining and organizing the raw data in matrices and indicator templates. The project specific indicator related data sets are sorted out for feeding the Eva.S evaluation tool for a data check considering the classical criteria for sustainability in the field of economy, ecology and social-cultural aspects by a multi array grid (processor). In a monitoring and decision loop the final results and products as well as strategies are shown for dissemination and rating of the results. The rating system 1-10 (1= best practice; 10= failure) is similar to the common rating tables of international standards to demonstrate in particular the "grade of achievement" of the measures. The development and realization of a project is a process in several distinct project-phases and this will certainly not end with its implementation. Sectorial considerations and therefore possibly inefficient measures in case of changes in the project can be prevented because the presented interaction and feed back effects of the evaluation and monitoring strategy is integrated from the beginning on of the project with the focus on the analysis of work flow and rating checks. The Eva.S evaluation tool was performed by the Young Cities project by the participating project teams in the forum of an internal Evaluation and Monitoring group. From the first beginning on it was designed also for other applications and potential projects and test runs were consequently developed. The first runs were done successfully with data sets of the well known REFINA project and resources consumption management. The Eva.S data bank was serving the Young Cities project by 135 data sets, 3 Fields of Action (FoA) and 25 Work Packages. The Eva.S evaluation tool is operating in Open Source / Mikrosoft Office easy to feed by a Drop-Down menu. The Eva.S project data are evaluated by qualitative and quantitative project specific indicators proved by the classical dimensions of sustainability: socio-cultural quality, economic and ecological quality. The risk analysis part of Eva.S was tested and optimized by a MORIX feasibility study in Real Estate Management (REM) Master Courses. The dynamic and constantly up-dated Eva.S evaluation tool has many potential applications in the field of evaluation and monitoring. Stakeholders are project developer, political decision maker of municipal authorities. Eva.S is from now on present in the internet and offers access world wide: http://yc.liebrenz.info/refina/index.php. There are no barriers and there will be a training and application of Eva.S for legal frame work.
AbstractThis paper aims to contribute to the growing body of research literature on assessing environmental efficiency by introducing a new key performance indicator (KPIs) in more complete and dependable aspects of ecological footprint indices. For this purpose, the DEA model considering three inputs (energy consumption, labor force, and capital stock), one desirable output (GDP), and different undesirable outputs (CO2 emissions, ecological footprint indicators) are applied to 27 OECD countries from 2000 to 2017. According to the results, Norway, Luxemburg, and United Kingdom are the most environmentally efficient countries in terms of environmental efficiency and ecological footprint efficiency. On the other hand, the lowest environmental and ecological footprint efficiencies were in countries like Lithuania, Slovak, Czech, Estonia, and the USA. In addition, these nations fare poorly regarding their carbon footprint and farmland efficiency. In further detail, Lithuania, South Korea, Portugal, and Spain have a critical status in fishing ground efficiency, while the forest area efficiency is very acute in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Czech.
The aim of this review was to present the main anthropogenic threats to seabirds, a taxonomic group described as environmental sentinels, and the dynamics between parasites and hosts and their relationship with the health of the marine ecosystem. Coastal marine environments support various anthropogenic activities, exposing seabirds to multiple and synergistic environmental changes. These activities are considered negative to the maintenance of several seabird species, such as exposure to constant aquatic contaminants and fishing. In addition, parasitic and infectious diseases (viral, bacterial, and fungal) may also play an important role in maintaining some seabird populations. Some pathogenic organisms have public health importance and/or may indicate environmental quality. Host-parasite interaction may be positive, negative, or absent depending on some environmental factors potentially associated with degradation, as well as intrinsic factors of host or parasite. In addition, investigating aspects of seabird mortality also contributes to the constant population monitoring and understanding of the interaction between animals, humans, and the environment. Thus, seabirds and their parasitofauna can provide important ecological and health information, including those related to environmental health, supporting strategies for reducing degradation and maintaining marine ecosystems.
