Waste Agricultural Biomass2014 | City of Melbourne
Zero Net Emissions by 2020 update 2014 is our strategy for the next four years and beyond to become a carbon neutral city and create a bold and sustainable future for the municipality of Melbourne. It outlines a way forward for the municipality of Melbourne that has been developed by City of Melbourne in collaboration with key stakeholders. We recognize that we can achieve such an ambitious goal working alone. Council operations make up less than one per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions of the municipality, so we have developed a plan for key stakeholders to work together towards this goal.
2006 | Environment Committee
Council has played a leading role in greenhouse reduction activities since the mid 1990's. Council joined the international Cities for Climate Protection TM (CCP TM) Program in 1998 and the national Greenhouse Challenge program in 2000. Since joining these programs Council recognised the need to develop a longer term approach to greenhouse issues, and adopted the Zero Net Emissions by 2020 strategy in 2003. Zero Net Emissions by 2020 identifies three key strategies: Improved Building Design: Reduction in energy use through the uptake of ESD principles in new and existing buildings. Use of renewable energy: Increased uptake of renewable energy and renewable energy generation such as solar hot water and photovoltaics. Sequestration: The offset of remaining emissions through tree planting, which sequesters carbon from the atmosphere. The strategy recognises that deeper abatement coupled with a strategic approach is required to curb the impacts of global warming.
2012 | Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)
Current waste management practices in cities in developing Asia are a threat to human health and to the environment. These impacts extend beyond the local level because of the emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting contribution to global climate change. Biological treatment methods for organic waste, which include composting, anaerobic digestion and mechanical-biological treatment, have a number of well-documented advantages over current and conventional waste management practices. These methods have been successfully implemented in a number of cities, but their uptake is still limited. Governments play a key role in mainstreaming biological treatment and coordinated policy action at national and local levels is needed. This policy brief therefore recommends a number of concrete government actions that can facilitate the uptake of these methods. National governments are recommended to focus on stakeholder engagement, formulation and implementation of supportive policies, and information management. Local governments are recommended to liaise more effectively with their national governments, develop clear strategies and plans, engage the local stakeholders, and nurture innovations and grassroots initiatives.
2013 | UNEP
Burma is among the least emitting countries in the world, with 0.3 tCO2e per capita per year, and total annual GHG emissions of 12 million tCO2 -- excluding any methane emissions from agriculture, which has not been estimated (World Bank). In the WRI assessment, however, Myanmar has been attributed annual GHG emissions of 265 million tCO2e/year2, including all greenhouse gasses. This indicated significant emissions from agriculture.
2005 | Environmental Health Perspectives
During the 2000-2002 time period, between 36 and 56\% of ozone monitors each year in the United States failed to meet the current ozone standard of 80 ppb for the fourth highest maximum 8-hr ozone concentration. The simple average of health impacts across the 3 years includes reductions of 800 premature deaths, 4,500 hospital and emergency department admissions, 900,000 school absences, and > 1 million minor restricted activity days.
2005 | ABC-East Asian Regional Experiment Science Team
This document provides the implementation plan and the related information of the ABC East Asian Regional Experiment (ABC-EAREX2005) organized by scientists under the UNEP/Atmospheric Brown Cloud (ABC) Project (Ramanathan and Crutzen, 2003; http://www-abc-asia.ucsd.edu/). The objective of the ABC project is to understand the effects of human activities in the Asian region to the earth's climate and environment. Two regional experiments for the first phase of the ABC project have been planed in order to delineate the regional aspects of the effects and to compare the results from instruments used by different groups in the project in order to assure the homogeneity of data acquired by the ABC monitoring system in Asia. The earlier regional experiment proceeding to the EAREX2005 is the ABC Maldives Monsoon Experiment (APMEX) conducted from 1 October to 15 November 2004 in the South Asian region with the main station at Hanimandhoo, Maldives. Following the APMEX, the EAREX2005 will be conducted in March 2005 in the East Asian region (Fig. 1) where large anthropogenic emission sources of aerosols and gases are distributed. Especially in springtime the area is covered by various type aerosols including Asian mineral dust and anthropogenic aerosols. The difference in the airmass characteristics in the two experiments is important to be studied by the experiment.
2005 | Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
After 20 years of protecting the ozone layer with a new generation of chemicals, Governments are confronting the fact that these ozone-friendly substitutes for chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) also happen to be greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. To assess the extent of the problem and the available solutions, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in collaboration with the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP), has produced a Special Report entitled "Safeguarding the ozone layer and the global climate system: issues related to hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and perfluorocarbons (PFCs)".
| CAI-Asia
A large body of evidence shows that ozone can cause harmful respiratory effects including chest pain, coughing, and shortness of breath, which affect people with compromised respiratory systems most severely. When inhaled, ozone can cause acute respiratory problems; aggravate asthma; cause significant temporary decreases in lung function of 15 to over 20 percent in some healthy adults; cause inflammation of lung tissue; increase hospital admissions and emergency room visits; and impair the body's immune system defenses, making people more susceptible to respiratory illnesses. (Read the rest of the article at the CAI-Asia website)
2007 | Elsevier
nimal manure can provide nutrients for crop and fish production and input for biogas production but, if managed inappropriately, can also have a negative impact on the environment. The objective of this survey was to provide information about pig production and manure management practices in the Northern part of Vietnam in order to identify and prioritize research needs for future improvements in pig manure management. A survey was conducted by in-depth interviews on 54 pig farms in two Northern Vietnamese provinces, Thai Binh and Bac Giang. In addition to the survey, also key informant responses were obtained in the two provinces to help identify problems with existing manure management. The survey showed that large-scale pig producers (> 100 fatteners or 20 sows) had more pigs per hectare than medium-scale (19–99 fatteners, 5–19 sows) or small-scale (< 19 fatteners, < 5 sows) producers. Biogas was produced from 43\% of the total manure produced on all surveyed farms, and was used for cooking. The proportion of total manure applied to crops was only 5\% in Thai Binh and 35\% in Bac Giang. Large-scale producers tended to operate smaller fishponds, and medium-scale farms operated larger ones. The farmers were of the opinion that fish in ponds fertilized with pig manure grew significantly faster than did fish in ponds supplied with other feed or types of fertilizer. Twenty percent of pig producers reported that they raised pigs just to provide manure to feed their pond fish. A large proportion (19\%) of the total manure produced was discharged into public sewage systems, rivers and lakes. Of the 54 householders interviewed, 46 believed that animal manure caused serious damage to the environment. Farmers interviewed had little or no expertise in handling liquid manure, composting solid manure, or reducing contamination by means of microbial reduction of pollutants during manure management. In general, specialized pig production is seen as a commercial operation, while manure management remains non-commercial. The survey implied that more information to farmers, as well as stronger regulation of manure management, is needed in Vietnam
2012 | Elsevier
This survey was carried out to study animal manure management on livestock farms with biogas technology (biogas farms) and without (non-biogas farms) in the areas surrounding the Vietnamese cities Hanoi and Hue. The objective of the study was to assess the contribution of biogas production to a better environment as well as to recognize the problems with livestock manure management on small-scale farms. On all the farms included in the study more than one manure management technology was used, i.e. composting, separation of manure, biogas production and discharge of liquid manure to recipients such as public sewers or ponds. On biogas farms, most of the manure collected was used for bio-digestion. The farmers used the fermented manure (digestate) as a source of nutrients for crops, but on more than 50\% of the interviewed biogas farms digestate was discharged to the environment. On non-biogas farms, manure was in the form of slurry or it was separated into a liquid and a dry-matter-rich solid fraction. The solid fraction from separation was used for composting and the liquid fraction usually discharged to the environment. The survey revealed that there is a need to improve methods for transporting the manure to the field, as transportation is the main barrier to recycling the liquid manure fraction. Farmers in developing countries need financial and technical support to install biogas digesters and to overcome the problems involved in utilizing the manure. Information about how to pre-treat manure before adding it to the digester is urgently needed. At present too much water is used, and the high volume of slurry reduces the retention time and is a disincentive for transporting and applying the digestate to fields. The users need to be informed about the risk of loss of methane to the environment, how to prevent cooker corrosion and the discharge to recipients. In addition, the study reveals that in developing countries manure management legislation needs to be tightened to control environmental pollution.
2011 | Elsevier
Material flow analysis (MFA) is a useful methodology to describe and quantify complex systems based on the law of mass conservation. It was further adapted to suit the specific conditions in developing countries where the available data is scarce and uncertain. The ‘adapted MFA’ methodology optimises the number of parameters, describes these parameters as probability distributions and assesses the accuracy and uncertainty of the model values by Monte Carlo simulation. This study illustrates the first successful application of the ‘adapted MFA’ methodology in a small and low-income area including two neighbouring communes in rural northern Vietnam, where environmental sanitation and traditional agricultural practices are strongly interlinked and have an impact on the surrounding environment. Moreover, data on this area is typically scarce and uncertain. The obtained results reveal that the agricultural system was a significant source of nutrients (nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P)), which affect the surrounding environment mainly due to the overuse of chemical fertilizers. Every year, there were 103 ± 39 tonnes of N released into the atmosphere, 25 ± 3 tonnes of N leached to the surface water and 14 ± 2 tonnes of P accumulated in the soil, all originating from the applied chemical fertilizers. In addition, the sanitation system was also a critical source of nutrients that enter the surface water. 69 ± 6 tonnes of N and 23 ± 4 tonnes of P came from households through effluents of on-site sanitation systems (such as latrines and septic tanks) and were directly discharged to surface water every year. Moreover, the whole system annually generated a large nutrient source (214 ± 56 tonnes of N; 58 ± 16 tonnes of P) in the form of wastewater, faecal sludge, animal manure and organic solid wastes. The validated MFA was used to model different scenarios for the study site. The first scenario demonstrated that if nutrient management is not improved, wastewater as well as faecal sludge and organic solid waste are expected to double in the year 2020 as compared to that in 2008. The second and third scenario revealed possible strategies to significantly reduce environmental pollution and reuse nutrient sources predicted to be available in the year 2020.
2011 | Institute for Global Environmental Strategies
Environmental sustainability is the key tool to support the socio-economic development of Cambodia with the crucial functions to maintain the balance between natural resources and human needs. Therefore, it is necessary to take environmental protection into account consistent with the socio-economic development. The Royal Government of Cambodia under the ideal leadership of Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdome of Cambodia, in the context of environment, has adopted several legislations, for example, the Law on Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Management, Law on Natural Protected Areas, Law on Biosafety, and the four related sub-decrees as well, emphasizing its support and commitment to protect and manage the environment and natural resources in a sustainable manner. Currently, environment integration is being raised and applied within sectorial development. In this connection, several directives, standards, technical guidelines, etc., have been developed to effectively implement such environmental legislations as above. A Guide for Technology Selection and Implementation of Organic Waste Utilisation Projects in Cambodia is a crucial document to guide stakeholders to draw attention to possible use of organic waste prior to disposal based on the 3R initiatives, including the sound management of solid waste by appropriate technologies. The Ministry of Environment of Cambodia firmly supports this important document, and expects that it will be comprehensively disseminated and implemented at national and sub-national levels in order to share the accomplishment of the Goal No. 7 of the Millennium Development Goals, ‘To Ensure Environmental Sustainability’ in parallel with the socio-economic development in the Kingdom of Cambodia.
2009 | UNEP
Globally, 140 billion metric tons of biomass wastes are generated every year from agriculture equivalent to about 50 billion tons of oil. This energy can displace fossil fuel, reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and provide renewable energy to some 1.6 billion people in developing countries, which still lack access to electricity. As raw materials, biomass wastes have attractive potentials for large-scale industries and community-level enterprises. For efficient and effective conversion, appropriate selection of technologies is one of the vital pre-conditions. This compendium is compiled to assist in selection process for the technologies. This is a compilation of information about the technologies for converting waste agricultural biomass into material or energy resource. The technologies listed range from highly sophisticated equipment from industrialized countries to simple technologies from the developing countries. Different levels of use are also considered, i.e., commercial use, demonstration projects, and research level technologies. The technologies for different type of waste agricultural biomass and size of output are also considered. Technologies listed in the Compendium are limited to those that use cellulosic agricultural waste biomass.