Chen, D., Li, X. C., Lou, Z. H., & Chen, J. (2019). Ecological and economic feasibility analysis of irrigation engineering projects. Applied Ecology and Environmental Research, 17(1), 781–793.
Abstract: Irrigation improvement has been identified as an important adaptation strategy for the food and water security under climate change. Ecological and economic feasibility analysis of irrigation improvement projects is of vital importance to ensure the high investment efficiency and the sustainability of irrigation development. This study integrated emergy, economic and sensitivity analysis methods into a combined analysis. A case study on a small-scale irrigation project in plain areas of Jiangsu Province in China illustrated the methodology. The results indicated that different calculation results were obtained by using emergy and economic analysis methods, respectively. The conventional monetary based analysis method could underestimate or overestimate the assessment indicators. Emergy as an eco-centric method could neglect the economic utility, human preference and demand. Economic analysis and emergy accounting as the complementary valuation methods should be jointly used to provide better insights into the environmental and economic effects of irrigation improvement projects.
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Convertino, M., Foran, C. M., Keisler, J. M., Scarlett, L., LoSchiavo, A., Kiker, G. A., et al. (2013). Enhanced Adaptive Management: Integrating Decision Analysis, Scenario Analysis and Environmental Modeling for the Everglades. Sci. Rep., 3.
Abstract: We propose to enhance existing adaptive management efforts with a decision-analytical approach that can guide the initial selection of robust restoration alternative plans and inform the need to adjust these alternatives in the course of action based on continuously acquired monitoring information and changing stakeholder values. We demonstrate an application of enhanced adaptive management for a wetland restoration case study inspired by the Florida Everglades restoration effort. We find that alternatives designed to reconstruct the pre-drainage flow may have a positive ecological impact, but may also have high operational costs and only marginally contribute to meeting other objectives such as reduction of flooding. Enhanced adaptive management allows managers to guide investment in ecosystem modeling and monitoring efforts through scenario and value of information analyses to support optimal restoration strategies in the face of uncertain and changing information.
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David, R. B., & Tobin, G. A. (2017). Understanding water policy sustainability: A case study in San Francisco and San Jose California. Environmental Science & Policy, 78, 167–172.
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Deslatte, A., Feiock, R. C., & Wassel, K. (2017). Urban Pressures and Innovations: Sustainability Commitment in the Face of Fragmentation and Inequality. Review of Policy Research, 34(5), 700–724.
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Dourte, D. R., Fraisse, C. W., & Uryasev, O. (2014). WaterFootprint on AgroClimate: A dynamic, web-based tool for comparing agricultural systems. Agricultural Systems, 125, 33–41.
Abstract: We introduce a dynamic web-resource for estimating seasonal water footprints of agricultural production in the U.S. This tool provides a system-specific water footprint accounting that responds to changes in location, time, soil, and management. Modifications to an existing crop growth model were made in order to separate consumptive use of green and blue water; that is water from rainfall and water from a groundwater or surface water resource, respectively. This separation is an important distinction of water footprinting that allows for more direct assessments of impacts on water resources. The tool also provides a local water stress index, based on regional water use and available supplies, and it displays time series and cumulative rainfall during the period of crop production.
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Feiock, R. C., Portney, K. E., Bae, J., & Berry, J. M. (2014). Governing Local Sustainability: Agency Venues and Business Group Access. Urban Affairs Review, 50(2), 157–179.
Abstract: To what extent do local administrators include business interests in their informal bargaining and negotiation on issues involving economic development and environmental and sustainability policies? In the absence of previous studies, we extend political market theory to decisions involving administrative officials by investigating differences across city agencies in the extent they provide business organizations access to the policy development processes. A multilevel analysis is applied to a unique set of survey responses from 413 local government administrators in 50 of the 54 largest U.S. cities. These design and data innovations provide new insights into local administrators' willingness to grant access to economic development interests. Within individual cities, we account for differences in agency mission and administrators' personal positions and experiences. Across cities, we account comparatively for variations in government size, demographic characteristics, ideology, and growth patterns.
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Gordon, T. A. C., Harding, H. R., Clever, F. K., Davidson, I. K., Davison, W., Montgomery, D. W., et al. (2018). Fishes in a changing world: learning from the past to promote sustainability of fish populations. J Fish Biol, 92(3), 804–827.
Abstract: Populations of fishes provide valuable services for billions of people, but face diverse and interacting threats that jeopardize their sustainability. Human population growth and intensifying resource use for food, water, energy and goods are compromising fish populations through a variety of mechanisms, including overfishing, habitat degradation and declines in water quality. The important challenges raised by these issues have been recognized and have led to considerable advances over past decades in managing and mitigating threats to fishes worldwide. In this review, we identify the major threats faced by fish populations alongside recent advances that are helping to address these issues. There are very significant efforts worldwide directed towards ensuring a sustainable future for the world's fishes and fisheries and those who rely on them. Although considerable challenges remain, by drawing attention to successful mitigation of threats to fish and fisheries we hope to provide the encouragement and direction that will allow these challenges to be overcome in the future.
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Hawkins, C. V., Krause, R. M., Feiock, R. C., & Curley, C. (2016). Making meaningful commitments: Accounting for variation in cities investments of staff and fiscal resources to sustainability. Urban Studies, 53(9), 1902–1924.
Abstract: Environmental sustainability is one of the great challenges of the 21st century. A number of explanations have been advanced for why some local governments make strong commitments to sustainability while others do not. Most of the extant empirical research, however, has relied on models that employ only one or just a few of these explanations. As a result, empirical analyses do not encompass a comprehensive set of variables that account for alternative explanations. This study begins to fill this lacuna by specifying an empirical model that examines six explanations for local commitment towards sustainability: local sustainability priorities, regional governance, climate protection networks, interest group support, local fiscal capacity, and characteristics of the local governing institution. Moreover, we use the designation of human and financial resources specifically for sustainability to operationalise commitment. This is a more substantive measure than has been used in previous studies. We accomplish this by utilising data from the Integrated City Sustainability Database. Our results indicate that local priorities, participation in regional governance, and membership in climate protection networks influence the likelihood of cities' devotion of resources to sustainability. We discuss the implications of these findings for research and practice.
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Joyce, J., Chang, N. - B., Harji, R., Ruppert, T., & Imen, S. (2017). Developing a multi-scale modeling system for resilience assessment of green-grey drainage infrastructures under climate change and sea level rise impact. Environmental Modelling & Software, 90, 1–26.
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Joyce, J., Chang, N. - B., Harji, R., Ruppert, T., & Singhofen, P. (2018). Cascade impact of hurricane movement, storm tidal surge, sea level rise and precipitation variability on flood assessment in a coastal urban watershed. Clim Dyn, 51(1-2), 383–409.
Abstract: For comprehensive flood assessment, complex systems, both natural and man-made, must be accounted for due to prevailing cascade effects from the upper atmosphere to the subsurface with hydrological and hydraulic interactions in between. This study aims to demonstrate such cascade effects via an integrated nearshore oceanic and coastal watershed model. Such an integrated modeling system consists of a coupled hydrodynamic circulation and wave driven model [the ADvanced CIRCulation (ADCIRC) and Simulating WAves Nearshore (SWAN) models], which can combine storm surge, astronomic tide levels and wave interaction, as well as an integrated hydrological/hydraulic model, namely the Interconnected Channel and Pond Routing (ICPR) model for coastal urban watershed simulation. In order to explore the worst scenario of coastal flooding impacts on a low-lying coastal watershed, the Cross Bayou Watershed within the Tampa Bay area of Florida was chosen for a multi-scale simulation analysis. To assess hurricane-induced storm tide, precipitation variability, and sea level rise collectively this multi-scale simulation analysis combines ADCIRC/SWAN and ICPR integratively. Findings indicate that such consideration of complex interactions at the coastal ocean, land surface, and sub-surface levels can provide useful flood assessments which are sensitive to slight changes in natural hazard characteristics such as storm intensity, radius of maximum winds, storm track, and landfall location.
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Krause, R. M., Hawkins, C. V., & Park, A. Y. S. (2019). The Perfect Amount of Help: An Examination of the Relationship Between Capacity and Collaboration in Urban Energy and Climate Initiatives. Urban Affairs Rev, .
Abstract: Many municipalities are taking meaningful action in pursuit of climate, environmental, and energy objectives. These issues are complex and transboundary and thus provide fertile ground for collaboration, particularly in metropolitan regions. However, despite the many benefits that can result from collaboration, it also entails transaction risk. As a result, cities have incentive to be selective about who they collaborate with. In some cases, cities, particularly those with considerable internal resources and capacities, might find it easier to "go it alone." We pull from the literature on collaboration risk, transaction cost economics, and organizational capacity to develop hypotheses about the relationship between capacity and collaboration in urban sustainability initiatives. Our analysis finds that the extent to which cities collaborate with external organizations on climate and energy issues is shaped by local administrative capacity; however, the relationship is nonlinear.
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McClelland, S. C., Arndt, C., Gordon, D. R., & Thoma, G. (2018). Type and number of environmental impact categories used in livestock life cycle assessment: A systematic review. Livestock Science, 209, 39–45.
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Mitra, R., & Buzzanell, P. M. (2018). Implementing Sustainability in Organizations: How Practitioners Discursively Position Work. Management Communication Quarterly, 32(2), 172–201.
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Nair, P. K. R., Viswanath, S., & Lubina, P. A. (2017). Cinderella agroforestry systems. Agroforest Syst, 91(5), 901–917.
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Onat, N. C., Kucukvar, M., Tatari, O., & Egilmez, G. (2016). Integration of system dynamics approach toward deepening and broadening the life cycle sustainability assessment framework: a case for electric vehicles. Int J Life Cycle Assess, 21(7), 1009–1034.
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Qiu, J., Carpenter, S. R., Booth, E. G., Motew, M., Zipper, S. C., Kucharik, C. J., et al. (2018). Scenarios reveal pathways to sustain future ecosystem services in an agricultural landscape. Ecological Applications, 28(1), 119–134.
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Roostaie,, Nawari,, & Kibert,. (2019). Sustainability and resilience: A review of definitions, relationships, and their integration into a combined building assessment framework. Building and Environment, 154, 132–144.
Abstract: Every year, the United States is faced with billions of dollars in damages and large numbers of deaths due to natural hazards. Resilience to these hazards has become a growing theme in sustainable design and the current global discourse on climate change adaptation. Coping with the challenges of earth's ever-shifting climate contextualizes the importance of resilience in sustainable development. To achieve greater resilience at a minimum environmental cost, the literature suggests developing a coherent sustainability and resilience framework. This review discusses the definition of sustainability and resilience and the relationship between the two concepts in order to examine the possibility of establishing such a combined framework. Studying the relationship between the sustainability and resilience points to some similarities between the two paradigms but also highlights key differences that may impede their integration. Most existing studies advocate the incorporation of resilience indicators into sustainability metrics and believe it to be technically possible. The major finding of this review is that the integration process requires developing a new combined assessment tool or a thorough refinement of current sustainability frameworks to include resilience indicators that were not initially included. For such a unified framework to be established successfully, the active involvement of different stakeholders in all stages is necessary.
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Sealey, K. S., Binder, P. - M., & Burch, R. K. (2018). Financial credit drives urban land-use change in the United States. Anthropocene, 21, 42–51.
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Swann, W. L. (2017). Examining the Impact of Local Collaborative Tools on Urban Sustainability Efforts: Does the Managerial Environment Matter? The American Review of Public Administration, 47(4), 455–468.
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Yi, H., Krause, R. M., & Feiock, R. C. (2017). Back-pedaling or continuing quietly? Assessing the impact of ICLEI membership termination on cities' sustainability actions. Environmental Politics, 26(1), 138–160.
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