This paper examines the intersection of environmental procedural rights and the emerging concept of the Rights of Nature, utilising the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making, and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) as a legal framework. It examines how access to justice, particularly through the case law of the Convention’s Compliance Committee (ACCC), can serve as a mechanism for advancing environmental protection beyond anthropocentric interests. Analysis of selected ACCC case law from Denmark, Germany, France, and Italy reveals that while environmental NGOs benefit from broader standing, individuals often face significant procedural barriers. Additionally, NGOs face challenges such as a lack of access to free legal aid and high litigation costs. The paper argues that although the Aarhus Convention has laid a strong foundation for broader access to justice in environmental matters, further concrete actions by the Parties to the Convention are needed to eliminate these barriers. The paper also highlights the increasing relevance of animal welfare within environmental law, noting its intersection with biodiversity and sustainability goals. The ACCC’s broad interpretation of “law relating to the environment” supports this, offering new mechanisms for protecting Rights of Nature.
Oluwatosin Mercy Dada, Omolola Oluwakemi Ajayi, Oluwakayode Michael Coker
ABSTRACT Law enforcement is essential for effective wildlife conservation. In Nigeria, enforcing wildlife laws faces significant challenges, primarily due to limited knowledge among officials. This study assessed these challenges in Oyo and Lagos States, focusing on the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), and Immigration Service (NIS). Data from structured surveys and interviews were analyzed using descriptive, inferential, and thematic methods. Findings revealed limited awareness of wildlife laws, with NESREA and NCS showing the highest knowledge levels. Compared to Oyo State, agencies in Lagos reported more experience with wildlife crime cases, and a significant positive relationship existed between officials' knowledge and experience handling such cases. These findings highlight the need for government action to address enforcement challenges and provide targeted training, ensuring agencies are equipped to enforce wildlife laws as legislation is strengthened.
Environmental sciences, Human ecology. Anthropogeography
Liudmila Kornuta, Hanna Sarybaieva, Nataliia Shevchenko
The subject of the study is the governance architecture for managing an innovative economy in the European Union and the practical design of an implementation model for Ukraine under conditions of recovery and European integration. The paper examines how institutional design, regulatory frameworks, financial instruments, and coordination mechanisms interact in shaping innovation outcomes, and why innovation policy should be treated as a managed public-policy cycle rather than a set of isolated initiatives. Special attention is paid to the role of public administration and civil servants as carriers of delivery capacity, to analytics as decision infrastructure in the policy cycle, and to the embeddedness of innovation governance in international relations through standards, programme participation, and technology cooperation. The paper also addresses diplomacy and mediation as governance practices for aligning interests within complex innovation ecosystems and for maintaining legitimacy under heightened integrity requirements. Methodology. The research is based on a combination of systemic, comparative, and institutional approaches. It integrates analysis of leading innovation-policy models (national innovation systems, Triple Helix, mission-oriented policy, and open innovation) with an examination of EU multi-level governance logic and its delivery instruments, including programme cycles, portfolio financing, innovation procurement, competition and state-aid discipline, and evidence-based monitoring. This methodological design enables identification of institutional interface risks that typically arise between strategy and implementation, as well as assessment of Ukraine’s baseline constraints linked to fragmentation of competences, capacity limitations, wartime pressures, and regional heterogeneity. The aim of the work is to substantiate a coherent model of innovation governance for Ukraine that is compatible with European approaches and capable of operating under recovery-scale funding, while ensuring controllability, transparency, competition for resources, partnership, and accountability for results. The results of the study show that EU innovation governance functions as a portfolio-based management system in which priorities are operationalized through repeatable programmes, predictable funding windows, standardized procedures, and measurable performance signals. The effectiveness of this model is driven by delivery capacity within public administration, disciplined instrument design across the full innovation lifecycle, and analytics-based monitoring that supports policy correction. For Ukraine, the key challenge is the gap between strategic planning and administrable delivery, reinforced by overlaps of mandates and unowned zones at lifecycle transition points. The paper proposes a Target Operating Model built on functional separation between a policy owner responsible for portfolio coherence and specialized delivery agencies responsible for execution; a standing inter-ministerial synchronization mechanism to align innovation tools with procurement, skills, competition constraints, digital transformation, and recovery investments; and a regional contour grounded in smart specialization logic to generate pipelines and provide adoption environments. The proposed roadmap emphasizes innovation procurement as a demand-side scaling lever, standardized stage-gate progression for financing instruments, professionalization of civil-service competencies, data-driven management routines, and a compact KPI framework linking inputs, outputs, and outcomes with public reporting and effectiveness audit. Conclusion. Sustainable innovation governance requires shifting from declarative strategies and fragmented initiatives toward an integrated operating model that aligns institutional responsibility, procedures, data, and performance accountability in one coherent cycle. For Ukraine, the most feasible path is not replicating EU institutional forms, but reproducing their functional logic: predictable programme cycles, administrable instruments across the innovation chain, procurement-enabled demand creation, disciplined integrity safeguards, and analytics-based monitoring that enables continuous adjustment and strengthens trust in resource allocation during recovery and integration.
Raimundo Pereira Pontes Filho, José Perceu Valente de Freitas, Helaine Gleicy de Azevedo Borba
O município de Autazes (AM) enfrenta complexos conflitos entre a exploração econômica e a preservação ambiental, que afeta diretamente a sua população, comunidades tradicionais e indígenas. O estudo objetiva investigar a influência da pobreza, desemprego, e deficiência de serviços públicos essenciais que contribuem para o dissenso das comunidades indígenas em Autazes no tocante à exploração mineral de potássio, respondendo o seguinte problema de pesquisa: como a precariedade dos serviços públicos impacta as decisões e contribui para o dissenso entre as comunidades indígenas em torno de grandes projetos de exploração mineral? Para isso, a metodologia adotada é qualitativa e exploratória, utilizando pesquisa bibliográfica, análise documental em processos judiciais e dados socioeconômicos. Os resultados apontam que a falta de serviços básicos e oportunidades econômicas torna as comunidades vulneráveis a pressões externas, facilitando a implementação de grandes projetos econômicos sob a promessa de desenvolvimento na região. Conclui-se que a pobreza, desemprego e a deficiência de serviços públicos são um dos fatores que influenciam para a aceitação de grandes projetos por parte das comunidades e lideranças indígenas, além de desempenharem um papel central na divisão interna das comunidades indígenas de Autazes.
Environmental sciences, Law in general. Comparative and uniform law. Jurisprudence
Walter Leal Filho, Samara Neiva, Gabriele da Cunha Lopes
Abstract Background As climate change intensifies, universities face growing pressure to adopt climate adaptation strategies that ensure their sustainability and resilience. This paper examines whether and how universities are implementing these strategies to respond to the increasing risks posed by climate change. Drawing on case studies and a review of existing sustainability frameworks in higher education institutions, the research explores the extent to which climate adaptation is integrated into campus operations, infrastructure planning, research initiatives, and community engagement. Results The findings suggest that while some universities are leading in climate resilience efforts, others are lagging, often focusing more on mitigation measures rather than comprehensive adaptation. The paper highlights the need for more systematic approaches to adaptation, including climate risk assessments, infrastructure upgrades, and curricular integration of climate resilience. The findings offer insights into best practices and challenges, as collaboration between academic, administrative, and external stakeholders. The results show that universities are key players in advancing climate adaptation and ensuring long-term sustainability. Conclusions This research emphasizes the critical role of higher education institutions in preparing for the realities of a changing climate, informing future efforts to promote climate resilience in higher education as part of their broader sustainability frameworks.
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) provisions form a crucial part of the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (the BBNJ Agreement) and are expected to have significant implications for States Parties. From a Chinese perspective, this study applies the SWOT-PEST analytical framework to examine the potential impacts of the BBNJ EIA rules on China.The findings reveal both opportunities and challenges across four dimensions: political, economic, social, and technological. Politically, China possesses certain policy and legal foundations, yet these are not fully developed, and while its international discourse power may expand, new regulatory barriers may arise. Economically, the healthy development of the marine economy supports the implementation of the new rules, however, in the short term, enterprises face multiple pressures such as rising costs and delayed returns, intensifying resource competition, while in the long run, this may facilitate their transformation and upgrading. Socially, despite existing gaps relative to international benchmarks, the engagement of diverse stakeholders provides a foundational basis for rule implementation, and although rising social pressures and adaptation costs present challenges, this also creates opportunities for multi-stakeholder development. Technologically, advancements in deep-sea technologies provide critical support for rule implementation while core technologies remain bottlenecked, facing threats from external technological barriers and simultaneously offering opportunities for cultivating marine technology expertise. Based on this analysis, the paper proposes potential strategies, including active participation in global ocean governance, advancement of deep-sea technologies, promotion of corporate transformation, and improvement of domestic legal frameworks
Science, General. Including nature conservation, geographical distribution
Underwater gliders, as autonomous underwater vehicles, are integral to oceanographic research, environmental monitoring, and military applications. Given the intricate and ever-changing underwater environment, the precise management of an underwater glider’s dive depth and pitch angle is imperative for optimal functionality.This study introduces a finite-time sliding mode control method for controlling dive depth and pitch angle of underwater gliders. It incorporates a radial basis function neural network in a critic–actor reinforcement learning framework, enhancing navigational performance in difficult conditions. Sea trial data are used to create a dynamic model for the underwater glider, which is then used to design a control law. Sliding mode control is used to align the dive depth and pitch angle with the desired trajectory. Actor and critic neural networks are used to handle disturbances and evaluate error costs. By incorporating standard deviation update technique into actor and critic neural networks, along with weight updates, we improve controller stability and reduce errors in maintaining dive depth and pitch angle. Our approach is proven to be more effective than traditional SMC and reinforcement learning SMC methods in trajectory tracking, even in the presence of disturbances, as shown in the simulation results.
Soil is a non-renewable resource and a dynamic ecosystem that provides key functions for human society and the survival of natural systems, including food production, water filtration, climate regulation and biodiversity. However, soil resources in the European Union (EU) are facing increasing degradation due to erosion, pollution, urbanisation and intensive agriculture, which threaten their long-term sustainability. Available data show that these processes have accelerated in recent decades and without intervention, the trend is likely to worsen.Although the acquis communautaire contains some provisions on soil protection (e.g. in the water, waste and agricultural policy directives), a comprehensive legal framework specifically targeting soil at EU level has been lacking. This article analyses the current legislative gap and a common strategy for the protection and sustainable use of soil. The strategy is based on the principles of integrating soil issues into other EU policies, preserving soil functions, preventing risk factors, mitigating their impacts and revitalizing degraded areas to a level compatible with current and future uses.The article assesses the application of existing instruments, such as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) or the European Green Deal, and also addresses the issue of the entry into force of Directive (EU) 2025/2360 of the European Parliament and of the Council on soil monitoring and resilience (Soil Monitoring Law) of 16 December 2025, which represents a historic milestone in the environmental policy of the European Union. It is the first comprehensive legal framework at EU level. Attention is also paid to effective implementation, including monitoring, financing and cross-sectoral cooperation, in order to ensure the resilience of soil systems to climate change and anthropogenic pressures.
Mining subsidence represents the primary environmental geological challenge in coal mining, particularly at high water level mining areas in the eastern regions of China. The control of movement deformation and the assessment of ecological losses in the context of extremely thick loose layers have garnered significant attention. To investigate the internal movement mechanisms of extremely thick loose layers and ascertain their impact on surface movement and deformation, this study focuses on the Xinji mining area in Huainan. A comprehensive 600 m depth full-section drilling monitoring system is established using the combined testing technology of distributed optical fiber and parallel electrical methods. This system aims to explore the deformation characteristics and internal movement patterns of the extremely thick loose layer. The full-section monitoring system captures internal strain and displacement information within the coal seam mining area, monitors changes in resistivity around the borehole, quantifies the spatio-temporal relationship between deformation in the stratum monitoring section, and analyzes the deformation characteristics and development forms of the inner stratum of the loose layer. Results indicate that the application of multi-parameter joint testing technology significantly enhances the monitoring efficiency and the accuracy of deformation location in the extremely thick loose layer. A relationship between the mining position of the working face and the internal deformation of the loose layer is established, dividing the mining influence process into four periods: the pre-influence period, weak mining influence period, strong mining influence period, and post-mining settlement period. The observed “reverse 3-shaped” shape movement model during advance influence deformation is verified, and the constitutive conditions and influencing factors of this model are analyzed. This model reveals the law of the accumulation and release of stratified stress during the process of coal mining in the extremely thick loose layer. The research outcome provides an essential technical support for the fine monitoring and analysis of the internal movement and deformation of the extremely thick loose layer. The acquired technical data serves as a crucial reference for monitoring and evaluating the progression of mining-induced damage, mitigating losses, reducing subsidence in ecological mining areas, devising land planning strategies for subsidence regions, and assessing the effectiveness of grouting transformations in loose geological layers.
One of the indicators that measures the economic development of a territory is its infrastructural endowment (road, rail, etc.). The presence of roads, railways, and airports are essential elements in creating the optimal conditions for the establishment or development of productive activities and economic growth; and also to generate benefits. However, the presence of infrastructure can have strong impacts on the environment and the living conditions of the population and infrastructure can be subject to actions related to contrast and opposition. Therefore, in parallel with the economic and environmental sustainability assessment, it is essential to decide whether or not to build new infrastructure. In addition, social sustainability is also pursued on the basis of an assessment that takes into account various aspects that relate the work to the population, also in order to identify the most satisfactory design solution. Alongside the adopted methodology, the assessment must be identified suitable criteria which are capable of taking into account the various impacts generated by the infrastructure, not only of an economic and environmental type, but also social and attributed relative importance (or weight) that is congruous with the correct balance of the three aspects of sustainability. This contribution deals with the identification of criteria for assessing the social sustainability of infrastructure projects, by taking as reference the 24 infrastructure projects in the planning and construction phase in the Liguria Region that make use of the Regional Law n. 39/2007 on the “Regional Strategic Intervention Programs—P.R.I.S.” (Regional Strategic Intervention Programs); which guarantees citizens affected by the infrastructure. In this research work, the selection is performed through the involvement of local stakeholders as well as the subjects and institutions that operate within the decision-making process of a work (designers, technicians from public administrations). The selected criteria are then weighted through the pairwise comparison method used in the multi-criteria technique of ThomasSaaty—Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The goal is to identify the useful criteria for assessing social sustainability and the weights attributed by the various parties involved in the decision-making process by citizens directly or indirectly affected by the infrastructure.
Abstract Background Replacing hazardous chemicals with safer alternatives is essential for a toxic-free environment. To avoid regrettable substitution, a comparison of the entire spectrum of potential impacts of the candidate for substitution with those of the available alternatives is required. A particular challenge is to also capture yet unknown long-term impacts of (very) persistent chemicals, including but not limited to PBT and CMR properties. Results For a flexible and transparent comparative ranking of the impact potential of chemical alternatives, we propose a concern-based scoring scheme (Scoring scheme for Comparative Ranking of chemical Alternatives, SCoRA). The approach accounts for hazards due to ecotoxicity in water/sediment and soil, and effects on human health such as CMR properties and endocrine disruption. This is combined with exposure-related information in terms of expected environmental pollution stock levels. The SCoRA approach is illustrated with case study chemicals of very high concern (15 SVHC, mostly PBT, representing different chemical classes with different modes of bioaccumulation and toxicity). A comparison of PBT substances reveals that SCoRA goes well beyond binary screening criteria (PBT: yes/no), showing that PBT substances are all of very high concern, although their impact profiles can be substantially different. Ordinal scores support a detailed characterisation of their potential for long-term impacts. Furthermore, SCoRA enables a coherent comparative assessment of substances with different primary concerns, for example PBTness and endocrine disruption. Conclusions SCoRA complements existing and established tools such as comparative risk assessment. It is particularly useful, when, for example, only limited data are available or when risk assessment is not feasible, as in the case of persistent chemicals. A strength of SCoRA is that the relative contributions of the impact components determining the concern can be visualised with a heatmap and fingerprints. This facilitates communication among scientists, regulators, risk managers, stakeholders and the public.
Despite longstanding concerns about environmental injustice in Louisiana’s industrialized communities, including the area known as Cancer Alley, there is a lack of environmental health research in this state. This research gap has direct consequences for residents of industrialized neighborhoods because state regulators have cited a lack of evidence for adverse health outcomes when making industrial permitting decisions. We investigated how cancer incidence relates to cancer risk from toxic air pollution, race, poverty, and occupation across Louisiana census tracts, while controlling for parish-level smoking and obesity rates, using linear regression and Akaike information criterion model selection. We used the most recent cancer data from the Louisiana Tumor Registry (2008–2017), estimates of race, poverty, and occupation from the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (2011–2015), and estimated cancer risk due to point sources from the US Environmental Protection Agency’s 2005 National Air Toxics Assessment (accounting for cancer latency). Because race and poverty were strongly correlated ( r = 0.69, P < 0.0001), we included them in separate, analogous models. Results indicated that higher estimated cancer risk from air toxics was associated with higher cancer incidence through an interaction with poverty or race. Further analysis revealed that the tracts with the highest (i.e. top quartile) proportions of impoverished residents (or Black residents) were driving the association between toxic air pollution and cancer incidence. These findings may be explained by well-established disparities that result in greater exposure/susceptibility to air toxics in Black or impoverished neighborhoods. Regardless, our analysis provides evidence of a statewide link between cancer rates and carcinogenic air pollution in marginalized communities and suggests that toxic air pollution is a contributing factor to Louisiana’s cancer burden. These findings are consistent with the firsthand knowledge of Louisiana residents from predominantly Black, impoverished, and industrialized neighborhoods who have long maintained that their communities are overburdened with cancer.
Przedmiotem artykułu jest analiza hipotetycznej sytuacji, w której posiadacz odpadów obowiązany do ich usunięcia z miejsca nieprzeznaczonego do ich składowania znajduje się w upadłości. W szczególności praca poświęcona jest ustaleniu osoby właściwej do wykonania powyższego obowiązku również w przypadku wszczęcia stosownego postępowania.
Environmental law, Regulation of industry, trade, and commerce. Occupational law
This paper investigates wax deposition as one of the major problems encountered in oil and gas pipelines with a potential environmental damage and with huge financial implications. A molecular diffusion and aging mechanism model by Fick’s law is applied here to better predict wax deposition thickness in crude oil pipelines. Through theoretical derivation and numerical simulation, the diffusion rate into the deposit gel has been modified by modifying the deposit layer temperature to accommodate effect of flow velocity. Findings show that the wax deposit is not uniformly distributed along the pipe length. Data were analyzed based on impact changing oil inlet temperature, volumetric flow rate, and high viscosity using MATLAB software/Simulator. On validation series model convergence was found to perform better with reasonable agreement when compared with experimental data. The result of prediction can be used to determine other parameters in the pipe line such as effective diameter, actual pressure drop and volumetric flow rate in through the pipe.
Francesco Signorato, Matteo Morciano, Luca Bergamasco
et al.
Improving the efficiency and sustainability of water treatment technologies is crucial to reduce energy consumption and environmental pollution. Solar-driven devices have the potential to supply off-grid areas with freshwater through a sustainable approach. Passive desalination driven by solar thermal energy has the additional advantage to require only inexpensive materials and easily maintainable components. The bottleneck to the widespread diffusion of such solar passive desalination technologies is their lower productivity with respect to active ones. A completely passive, multi-effect membrane distillation device with an efficient use of solar energy and thus a remarkable enhancement in distillate productivity has been recently proposed. The improved performance of this distillation device comes from the efficient exploitation of low-temperature thermal energy to drive multiple distillation processes. In this work, we analyze the proposed distillation technology by a more in-depth thermodynamic detail, considering a Second Law analysis. We then report a detailed exergy analysis, which allows to get insights on the production of irreversibilities in each component of the assembly. These calculations provide guidelines for the possible optimization of the device, since simple changes in the original configuration may easily yield up to a 46% increase in the Second Law efficiency.
Mauro Guilherme Maidana Capelari, Ricardo Corrêa Gomes, Suely Mara Vaz Guimarães de Araújo
et al.
Brazil has one of the most extensive and effective sets of deforestation control policies in the world. One of the main deforestation control policies implemented by the Brazilian government over the last 15 years has been the creation of an extensive system of protected areas, including extractive reserves. Our study addresses the challenges of reducing deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. We analyze the role of institutions in controlling deforestation, focusing on the formal rules contained within the Management Agreements of extractive reserves. We chose two extreme cases: the Rio Ouro Preto Extractive Reserve and the Rio Cautário Extractive Reserve, in the state of Rondônia, Brazil. Within each case, we analyzed the association between the recognition of the formal rules and the extent of deforestation. We collected data through eight focus groups, with a total of 61 reserve residents, which used a didactic story to understand reserve residents’ familiarity with the Management Agreement rules. In both cases, there was high recognition of the formal rules governing natural resource use in the reserves, although there was heterogeneity among communities and in the mechanisms that facilitate recognition. The factors contributing to the recognition and non-recognition of the formal rules by reserve residents included: learning strategies (theoretical and practical); speed of institutional change; rules content (ambiguous and not well-adapted); endogenous factors (e.g. leadership, relationships); and exogenous factors (e.g. economic change, conflict and pressures).
Political institutions and public administration (General)
Illegal fishing in the Exclusive Economic Zones [EEZs] of developing coastal States is an urgent problem for the marine environment, global food security, and local economies. While past academic debate has predominantly focused on obligations of flag States to tackle so called IUU-fishing in the High Seas, the recent request for an advisory opinion submitted by the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS, Case No. 21) has drawn attention to the fisheries regime of the EEZ. This article argues that the primary responsibility for fisheries management in the EEZ rests on the coastal State and that, so far, flag States have no obligation under customary international law to exercise their jurisdiction and control over vessels flying their flag which fish in the EEZ of other States. The article first gives an account of coastal State regulatory and enforcement jurisdiction. It outlines recent developments of the law by drawing on the jurisprudence of the ITLOS, particularly the recent M/V “Virginia G” Case. Further, the article undertakes to identify potential flag State obligations to combat illegal fishing in the EEZ. To that end, it provides an in-depth analysis of relevant binding and non-binding legal instruments such as the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, other multilateral treaties, bilateral fisheries treaties, and relevant soft-law instruments of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The article also discusses the relevance of principles of international environmental law. Next, the article analyzes the nature and scope of potential flag State obligations, qualifying them as obligations of due diligence. Finally, the article concludes that, de lege lata, no persuasive evidence of established flag State obligations exists. The author suggests that the situation should be remedied by a new, fully binding legal instrument.