The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 implementing regulations require an assessment of cumulative impacts in reaching a determination regarding the potential significance of impacts associated with a proposed action. Analysis of cumulative impacts is one of NEPA's most challenging and complex requirements. With respect to the assessment of cumulative impacts, a strict regulatory interpretation of “significance” can lead to a paradox (the Cumulative Impact Paradox, or “Paradox”). A Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), by its very definition, states that an action will not result in a significant effect, including a cumulatively significant impact. But because many environmental resources have already sustained significant cumulative impacts, a logical paradox can arise in which a strict interpretation of the regulatory requirements leads to the conclusion that many federal activities are technically ineligible for FONSIs and therefore require preparation of Environmental Impact Statements. A strict interpretation of “significance” can lead to such a conclusion, even in cases where the direct and indirect impacts of the proposed activity may be relatively nonsignificant. This Paradox must be resolved, if the analysis of cumulative impacts is to be practically and effectively integrated into federal decision making. This article presents a method or tool referred to as the Significant Departure Principle for resolving the aforementioned Paradox. Emphasis is placed on assessing environmental resources that have already sustained cumulatively significant impacts.

Extensive shale gas development is expected throughout the Appalachian Basin, and implementing effective avoidance and mitigation techniques to reduce ecosystem impacts is essential. Adoption of best management practices (BMPs) is an important approach for standardizing these techniques. For BMPs to be credible and effective, they need to be strongly supported by science. We focused on 28 BMPs related to surface impacts to habitat and wildlife and tested whether each practice was supported in the scientific literature. Our quantitative assessment produced four general conclusions: (1) the vast majority of BMPs are broad in nature, which provides flexibility in implementation, but the lack of site-specific details may hamper effectiveness and potential for successful conservation outcomes; (2) relatively low support scores were calculated for a number of BMPs, most notably those relating to noise and light pollution, due to existing research documenting effects on behavior rather than directly on species' survival and fitness—an indication that more research is needed; (3) the most commonly and strongly supported BMPs include landscape-level planning and shared infrastructure; avoidance of sensitive areas, aquatic habitats, and core forest areas; and road design, location, and maintenance; and (4) actions to enhance the development and implementation of BMPs should include public education, increased communication among scientists, improved data sharing, development of site-specific BMPs that focus on achieving ecological outcomes, and more industry collaboration.

Environmental Practice 14:308–319 (2012)

When it comes to transportation and sustainability, the conversation almost inevitably veers toward low-emission or zero-emission vehicles—and surmounting the technological challenge of creating cars that will run on something other than fossil fuels and the batteries to store the power. While this is a worthy goal, the technology is not there yet. Replacing our cars won't be enough: we need to replace our roads.

For over a century, salmon technocrats (fisheries scientists and kindred technical experts) have played an important role in Pacific Northwest salmon policy, but their involvement has caused them and others discomfort. The discomfort is summarized by the following observations: (1) the public, apparently, supports maintaining wild salmon runs, (2) there are competing societal priorities, many of which are partially or wholly mutually exclusive, (3) increasing numbers of people in the Pacific Northwest create additional pressures on all ecological resources (including wild salmon), (4) policy positions in the salmon policy debate are entrenched, (5) society expects salmon technocrats to help solve the salmon problem, (6) each of the many sides of the policy debate attempts to utilize salmon technocrats to bolster its argument, (7) it has proved nearly impossible for salmon technocrats to avoid being categorized as supporting a particular policy position, and (8) many policy advocates frame their policy views in scientific terms rather than value-based preferences. Involvement with salmon policy can be the professional undoing of a salmon technocrat unless his proper role is understood. From a technocrat's perspective, and in order to survive professionally, I propose several rules: (1) be honest, (2) focus on science, (3) accept that politicians covet legitimacy, (4) recognize that framing the policy question largely defines the analytical outcome, (5) avoid the allure of junk science and policy babble, (6) concede that societal values and priorities evolve, and (7) avoid technical and scientific hubris

As a result of increased awareness about the nature and extent of park-people conflicts in Nepal in the 1980s—and the liberalization of protected area management worldwide—great strides have been made in-country that have liberalized protected area management and allowed for some local control of resources. A new category of protected area and a comprehensive buffer zone policy are hallmarks of the government's efforts at involving local people in protected area management during the 1990s. As with many other least-developed nations, however, Nepal has lacked resources for the formulation of comprehensive management plans for its protected areas. The Park People Programme, a multiyear project of the United Nations Development Programme and the Government of Nepal, has recently instituted Goal-Oriented Project Planning as an inexpensive way to plan managerial activities needed to conserve resources within protected areas and buffer zones. The technique relies on the use of management planning workshops that include representatives of important interest groups, and follow-up workshops for implementation. Here we describe the approach and discuss its strengths and weaknesses. Strengths include the fact that the approach is efficient and cost-effective given limited financial and human resources in the conservation sector typical of most developing countries. Weaknesses include the very short duration of meetings and lack of budgetary information needed to implement plans over the entire planning period. The method shows potential for expansion in Nepal and adoption by other nations, but several improvements and follow-up activities are needed based on this assessment and on qualitative information gathered from workshop participants. These include longer workshops, more facilitators, and long-term assessments of the use of the method, as well as implementation of management plans generated by the method.

Experimental crop fields often contain large numbers of small spatial plots that require separate analysis. It can be difficult to precisely locate these plots in high-resolution imagery of the fields gathered by Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). This prevents UAS imagery from being applied in High-Throughput Precision Phenotyping and other areas of agricultural research. If the imagery is accurately geo-registered, then it may be possible to extract plots from the imagery based on their map coordinates. To test this approach, a UAS was used to acquire visual imagery of 5 ha of soybean fields containing 6.0 m 2 plots. Sixteen artificial targets were set up in the fields before flights to be used as Ground Control Points (GCPs) for geo-registration. Geo-registration accuracy was quantified based on the horizontal Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) of targets used as checkpoints. Twenty test plots were extracted from the geo-registered imagery. Plot extraction accuracy was quantified based on the percentage of the desired plot area that was extracted. It was found that using four GCPs minimized the horizontal RMSE and enabled a plot extraction accuracy of at least 70%, with a mean plot extraction accuracy of 92%. Future work will focus on enhancing the plot extraction accuracy through additional image processing techniques so that it becomes sufficiently accurate for all practical purposes in agricultural research and potentially other areas of research.

Environmental Practice 17: 178–187 (2015)

The intercity bus sector in the United States (US) has experienced a dramatic recovery in recent years due to the expansion of new curbside operators—express operators linking major cities that do not use traditional stations. Curbside operators such as BoltBus, DC2NY Bus, and Megabus are infusing new life into this once-struggling sector, particularly in the Midwest and Northeast. This study explores two aspects of the changing role of the intercity bus. First, it evaluates the extent to which intercity bus service diminished after 1960 and its subsequent recovery starting in 2006. Drawing on newly collected data from 11,400 arrivals and departures from a representative sample of US cities between 1960 and 2010, it shows that US cities lost more than three quarters of their intercity bus services before the recovery began. Secondly, it shows how recent growth of curbside-bus operators is reducing fuel consumption by about 11 million gallons annually and reducing carbon emissions by an estimated 242 million pounds. This is the equivalent benefit of removing 23,114 vehicles from the road or having 66,041 people convert from conventional to hybrid cars. These findings suggest that the sector's recovery has significant and perhaps underappreciated environmental benefits. It also suggests that further expansion by the sector, nurtured by public policy, could be an effective strategy to promote more energy-efficient intercity travel.

Environmental Practice 13:1–9 (2011)

This article analyzes the historical dynamics of the relationship between China and the European Union (EU) in global climate governance. The evolution of this relationship is traced through three time periods: the early days of the United Nations (UN) climate regime (1992–2001), the road to the Copenhagen summit (2001–2009) and the post-Copenhagen phase with the launch of the Durban Platform (2009-present). The contribution aims to expose two of the major structural changes that define current global climate governance dynamics, i.e., globalization and the rise of China, and identify key challenges for an increased collaboration between China and the EU. It is concluded that the EU and China are gradually emerging as strategic partners in global climate governance, but that severe uncertainties regarding the future of the climate regime persist. In order to translate practical bilateral cooperation into more tangible outcomes in the multilateral sphere, a fine balance will have to be struck between traditional Chinese sensitivities regarding sovereignty and economic development, and the EU's desire for an international agreement with ambitious mitigation targets.

Environmental Practice 15:190–200 (2013)

Indicators can contribute to land use management, particularly in the context of sustainable urban development. Together with scenario analysis, they are key instruments in producing information for stakeholders and policy makers and aid their understanding of urban development processes. Based on such information, stakeholders and policy makers can understand better the driving forces, the current state of urban development, how their decision can influence the future trends, and what impacts their decisions can have on the urban landscape. This article presents an application of scenario modeling and indicator evaluation for sustainable land use management in the Greater Dublin Region, based on discussions with scientists, policy makers, and stakeholders in order to guarantee its relevance to practice. This research was a core contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment and the Habitats Directive Appropriate Assessment procedures (areas for conservation and protection) for the 2010 Regional Planning Guidelines for Dublin.

Environmental Practice 15:19–32 (2013)

Habitat conservation planning has become the primary conservation tool for private landowners and developers under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Habitat conservation plans are newly evolving mechanisms and are challenged with addressing the conflicts and paradoxes inherent in integrating conservation and economic decision making. Research results of a 31-case analysis of habitat conservation plans (HCPs) are discussed to provide an objective understanding of the process through which HCPs are developed. A central finding is the significant variation in the ways HCPs have been developed, including who was involved, how decisions were negotiated, and how decision-making roles were designed and executed. The results also indicate that little attention has been given to HCP process design and management, and addressing this deficiency should be rewarding and challenging. Increased attention should be given to the roles of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and other organizations and individuals. These roles relate to stakeholder contribution, rules of engagement and participation, process efficiency, and the management of technical information. The practitioners surveyed indicated that HCP processes have often been sluggish and/or problematic; nevertheless, they generally characterized HCPs in positive ways. This suggests a positive base from which to improve HCP processes.

Over the last 30 years China has enjoyed economic growth averaging about 10% of gross domestic product (GDP) per year. But this economic growth has come at a high environmental cost. In China approximately 750,000 premature deaths a year are attributed to high levels of environmental pollution. With the recent 12th Five Year Plan (FYP) China's leadership announced the launching of a green revolution that would balance the need for robust economic growth with concern for the environment and combating climate change. This paper utilizes a rent-seeking framework to explore some of the obstacles inhibiting more environmentally sustainable policies in China. We describe the situation as a struggle over the proper aligning of the individual actor's behavior within an opportunistic governance structure, and we argue that rent seeking and corruption creates substantial hurdles to promoting green environmental practices and programs.

Environmental Practice 15:240–252 (2013)

Data were derived through a cross-sectional survey involving 288 respondents selected from three ecological zones of Nigeria to assess the role of wild plants in rural households' socio-economic security. The study revealed that wild plants were recognized by rural communities as common property and were managed through common property regimes. Wild plant products used by rural communities met a wide variety of uses and were available for sale in marketplaces within the rural areas. The study demonstrated that when compared across the three ecological zones, the volume of plant products was inversely related to the income they generated. For example, the volume of wild plant products harvested from natural forests was highest in the guinea savannah, followed by the derived savannah, and least in the rainforest; however, the annual household income generated from wild plants was highest in the rainforest and least in the guinea savannah. The wild plant products supported 11 occupations, including production of oils, soap making, gathering (of leaves, fruits, nuts, and seeds), carving, and production of chewing sticks (for oral hygiene). The most promising occupations were vegetable oil production, production of chewing sticks, soap making, production of wines, gathering, and fuel wood and charcoal production. The average annual value of harvested wild plant products from the forest (including items consumed, sold, given out to neighbors, and damaged after harvest) per household was 1,614,133 naira (N1,614,133), or US$11,956.54; the annual net income generated from the harvest of wild plant products per household was N910,252 (US$6,742.61). The sustainability of the forests for the supply of wild plant products is precarious. In plant conservation programs, priority attention should be given first to species threatened with extinction and then to plants of limited distribution in natural forests.

Lebanon is a relatively small developing country with an area of about 10,400 km2 and a population estimated at 4.005 million people, with an annual population growth rate of 1.7% (United Nations Development Programme, 2001). Lack of statistical data is one of the major limitations when attempting to study both demographic profile and infrastructure services in Lebanon. One important and known demographic characteristic, however, is the high rate of urbanization. The urban population constitutes more than 80% of the total population. Population agglomeration in coastal regions has led to the shifting of agricultural land into dwelling cities and a growing demand for infrastructure that exceeds the provisions of basic environmental services, such as the provision of safe water and adequate sanitation (United Nations Development Programme, 2001). After 17 years of civil strife, a myriad of environmental problems has emerged, which range from water contamination and air pollution to soil degradation and haphazard dumping of wastes.

Most discussions of ethics in public participation emphasize the agency's obligation to engage in more public participation. Yet, ethically speaking, sometimes less is better. If the increased public participation lacks forethought and proper support, it may do serious harm. We analyze three types of ethical breach that may occur when an agency engages in robust public participation: uncomplicated lying or manipulation, failing to provide a fair exchange, and asking for wisdom but failing to support it. As we discuss the need for clear ethics, we look at three constituencies that might be impacted: public participants, the general public, and the resource. Because convening agencies tend to have disproportionate power in a public participation process, we argue that convening agencies (and, through them, their consultants) ought to develop ethical standards addressing the three categories with respect to all three constituencies. Finally, based on our analysis, we suggest that sometimes less public participation is better.

Environmental Practice 14:212–219 (2012)

\cf1\f1 Consideration of cumulative effects as part of the environmental impact assessment process is seen as an essential element to ensure a complete determination of impact significance. These effects, defined as the incremental impact of an action when added to other past, present, and future activities, often result from individually minor but collectively significant actions taking place over a period of time. While conceptually appealing, the analysis of cumulative impacts has been frustrated by the absence of tractable methodologies to facilitate their identification and inclusion in more comprehensive environmental impact assessments. In this article the potential role of remotely sensed data is discussed and a scoping methodology based on the use of remotely sensed data is presented. For over three decades remote sensing has enabled the collection of detailed environmental data in a systematic and reliable manner. The method introduced in this article utilizes the ability to transform remotely sensed data into landscape indicators that can be employed to summarize the status of the environmental system and detect changed conditions over time. Through this procedure the pattern of cumulative effects on critical environmental indicators can be observed and the contribution of new actions can be more easily discerned. The procedure outlined also supports the implementation of satellite-based monitoring to uncover trends within a specified planning region. A demonstration of this scoping methodology illustrates that even over a comparatively short time-horizon, remotely sensed data can provide sufficient information to help identify the significant issues surrounding cumulative change. \cf0\f0

Environmental justice policy goals encompass the fair treatment and the meaningful involvement of all people in environmental policy formation and implementation. Few studies consider how new environmental justice programs foster meaningful involvement; this study addresses this gap by examining seven years of an environmental justice small grants program implemented by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). We frame our research in the theory of environmental discourses, dividing policy implementation among adherents with a managerial, pluralist, or communitarian perception of remedies to environmental injustice. We hypothesize that EPA awards will emphasize the managerial and pluralist discourses. Our study's empirical foundation included a content analysis of documents on 736 small grant awards. We supplemented this data with 23 interviews of grant recipients and four interviews with EPA officials. During seven years, more than half of the grants (58%, or 501) funded programs to primarily increase environmental justice information in the recipient community. Grants for technical capacity came in a distant second (21%, or 186) of the programs funded by EPA. Organizational efforts were the third most frequent award, representing 14% of all grants. Finally, only 7% of awards funded an initiative to expand public participation in environmental decisions. The EPA policy objectives included the goal of building participatory capacity in the design and implementation of local environmental decisions; however, funded programs emphasized efforts to generate and disseminate information, instead of building civic capacities for citizens to use information in meaningful ways. We conclude that environmental justice practitioners should better balance technical and informational efforts with “civic-minded” capacity-building programs.

Environmental Practice 10:152–163 (2008)

This study is an attempt to find the fundamental key to improving the social status of waste management workers by examining the history of nurses. A strong prejudice and discrimination against waste management workers still exist in Japanese society. The social status of nurses also used to be extremely low, but has improved drastically. Nursing has become a profession that many parents would like their daughters to choose as a career. The drastic improvement resulted from a change in the mindset toward “patients.” Similarly, the status of waste management workers can be improved if people start thinking of waste in terms of resources. Improvement in the social status of waste management workers could be one of the powerful driving forces for making waste management a more interesting profession and respected field.

Environmental Practice 10:66–74 (2008)

For three decades, many environmental practitioners have used the information campaign as their tool of choice. Yet most simple information appeals remain ineffective and are rooted in an outdated understanding of human behavior. In this article, we report on policy lessons from the Rewire program, an innovative energy conservation campaign at the University of Toronto that has grown to reach over 12,000 community members in Canada's largest university. Drawing from the Rewire experience, which evaluated the program by using a mix of psychological, electricity, and qualitative metrics, we suggest cost-effective methods for delivering policy interventions in a complex institutional setting and explore effective methods to generate widespread changes in energy behaviors through a community-based social marketing approach. Campaign designers should move away from single-tool policy interventions to employ a coordinated set of tools and techniques that address a wide range of determinants of human behavior. By training community-based coordinators, campaign designers should also move away from hierarchical policy implementation and toward decentralized deployment of modular and locally adaptive campaigns. For behavioral change to make a meaningful contribution to energy policy, we emphasize the need for more regular dialogue between social science research and the community of energy conservation practitioners.

Environmental Practice 15:147–155 (2013)