Academic Articles

Abstract: The poor state of solid waste management in cities of developing countries is fast assuming the scale of a major social/environmental challenge. The main drivers of the waste problem in Nigeria, for instance, are poverty, high population and urbanization growth rates, compounded by a weak and underfunded infrastructure. The gravity of this problem is perhaps best reflected in the level of attention given to it in the United Nations Millennium Declaration in September, 2000. Three of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the Declaration have waste or resource efficiency implications. In response to the waste challenge many developed countries have embarked upon ambitious environmental reforms, recording remarkable advances in best practises and sustainable management of their Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). The same cannot be said for most countries in Sub-Sahara Africa, however, as a result of several barriers militating against sustainable MSW management. Adopting a questionnaire interview methodology, this study surveyed 1557 respondents’ drawn from households, business and waste policy-makers in Abuja, Nigeria. Data analysis was carried out using the Statistical Programme for Social Sciences, (SPSS). Multivariate statistical analysis was used to carry out a between subjects multiple comparison of respondents views on the barriers as well as success factors affecting MSW management in the case study area. Findings point towards the need for a sustained public education programme on waste prevention and reuse as the panacea to waste problems in Nigeria. Based on the findings, a case is made for the adaptation of globally successful waste management best practises and strategies to suit local conditions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Decades of agricultural growth has led to the over appropriation of Yakima water and the ecological integrity of the Basin has been compromised. We evaluate the impact of current water allocation on the natural flow regime of the Yakima River using the Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration/Range of Variability Analysis and by quantifying indicators of ecosurplus and ecodeficit. We analyze the sustainability of the current water allocation scheme based on a range of sustainability criteria, from weak to strong to environmentally sustainable. Economic efficiency is assessed by describing the current allocation framework and suggesting ways to make it more efficient. Our IHA/RVA analysis suggests that the allocation of water in the Yakima River has resulted in a highly altered flow regime. Ecodeficit is far in excess of ecosurplus. We conclude that this allocation scheme is weakly sustainable, if sustainable at all, in its current framework. The allocation of water is also not economically efficient and we suggest that a reallocation of water rights may be necessary in order to achieve this objective. The creation of water markets to stimulate voluntary water rights transactions is the best way to approach economic efficiency. The first step would be to extend beneficial use requirements to include instream flows, which would essentially allow individuals to convert offstream rights into instream rights. The Washington trust water rights program was implemented as a means of creating a water market, which has contributed to the protection of instream flows, however more needs to be done to create an ideal water rights market so that rights migrate to higher valued uses, many of which are met instream. However, water markets will likely not solve the Yakima”s water allocation problems alone; some degree of regulation may still be necessary. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In its early days, air travel was glamorous. Decades of progress since then have made it safer and cheaper -- but also grimmer and far more frustrating. These days the flight experience generally means hunching in a narrow seat, nibbling on a bag of pretzels, and straining to glimpse the sky through a tiny porthole. ... Read More