Environmental law and the economic impact on Australian firms

In response to international awareness of environmental issues and the inadequacies of common law actions, legislation has been enacted by Australian governments to facilitate environmental protection. The Environmental Protection Act 1994 (Qld) and accompanying Environmental Protection (Interim) Regulation 1995 (Qld) is one example of government response to mounting public pressure to legislate for the environment. Investigation into the operation of the legislation exposes the costs faced by Australian firms in its application. The legislation identifies a number of environmentally relevant activities and imposes licensing and reporting requirements on firms undertaking such activities. In view of these legislative requirements and the increasing public awareness of environmental issues over the last decade in Australia, it could be expected that firms undertaking environmentally sensitive activities will place greater importance on the management of environmental issues. If so, the greater prominence placed on environmental management may be reflected in disclosures made by the firm to its shareholders and other interested parties. This article investigates the type and extent of costs currently imposed by the body of environmental laws in Australia with the discussion primarily focusing upon costs imposed due to the operation of environmental legislation in Queensland. Further, the article reports empirical analysis of management response to environmental issues where firms are undertaking environmentally sensitive activities.

Diurnal Variation of Retinal Thickness with Spectral Domain OCT

Purpose. To investigate whether diurnal variation occurs in retinal thickness measures derived from spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Methods. Twelve healthy adult subjects had retinal thickness measured with SD-OCT every 2 h over a 10 h period. At each measurement session, three average B-scan images were derived from a series of multiple B-scans (each from a 5 mm horizontal raster scan along the fovea, containing 1500 A-scans/B-scan) and analyzed to determine the thickness of the total retina, as well as the thickness of the outer retinal layers. Average thickness values were calculated at the foveal center, at the 0.5 mm diameter foveal region, and for the temporal parafovea (1.5 mm from foveal center) and nasal parafovea (1.5 mm from foveal center). Results. Total retinal thickness did not exhibit significant diurnal variation in any of the considered retinal regions (p > 0.05). Evidence of significant diurnal variation was found in the thickness of the outer retinal layers (p < 0.05), with the most prominent changes observed in the photoreceptor layers at the foveal center. The photoreceptor inner and outer segment layer thickness exhibited mean amplitude (peak to trough) of daily change of 7 ± 3 μm at the foveal center. The peak in thickness was typically observed at the third measurement session (mean measurement time, 13:06). Conclusions. The total retinal thickness measured with SD-OCT does not exhibit evidence of significant variation over the course of the day. However, small but significant diurnal variation occurs in the thickness of the foveal outer retinal layers.

Corporate social and environmental responsibility in relation to the agricultural sector and the food supply chain : a Case Study of Waitrose

Waitrose has a strong commitment to organic farming but also uses products from 'conventional' farms. At the production stage, Waitrose own-label products are fully traceable, GM-free and all suppliers undergo a detailed assessment programme based on current best practice. Crop suppliers to Waitrose operate an authenticity programme to certify that each assignment is GM-free and produce is screened for pesticide residues. Waitrose sources conventional crops grown from 'Integrated Crop Management Systems' (ICMS) using best horticultural practices. The 'Assured Product' scheme regulates all UK produce to ICMS standards and these audits are being extended worldwide. Business is withdrawn from suppliers who fail the audit. In relation to this, Waitrose has increased its Fairtrade range as in its view 'Buying these products provides direct additional benefit to workers in the developing countries where they are produced and assists marginal producers by giving them access to markets they would not otherwise have'. Currently, Waitrose is developing its own sustainable timber assessment criteria. For livestock, protocols are in place to ensure that animals are reared under the 'most natural conditions possible' and free range produce is offered where animals have access to open space although some produce is not from free-range animals. Waitrose also use a 'Hazards Analysis Critical Points' system to identify food safety hazards that occur at any stage from production to point of sale and to ensure that full measures are in place to control them. In addition, mechanisms have been implemented to reduce fuel use and hence reduce CO2 emissions in the transport of products and staff, and to increase the energy use efficiency of refrigeration systems which account for approximately 60% of Waitrose energy use.

A preliminary study into the environmental and economic consequences of a sugar factory depithing operation

Bagasse stockpile operations have the potential to lead to adverse environmental and social impacts. Dust releases can cause occupational health and safety concerns for factory workers and dust emissions impact on the surrounding community. Preliminary modelling showed that bagasse depithing would likely reduce the environmental risks, particularly dust emissions, associated with large scale bagasse stockpiling operations. Dust emission properties were measured and used for dispersion modelling with favourable outcomes. Modelling showed a 70% reduction in peak ground level concentrations of PM10 dust (particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10 µm) from operations on depithed bagasse stockpiles compared to similar operations on stockpiles of whole bagasse. However, the costs of a depithing operation at a sugar factory were estimated to be approximately $2.1 million in capital expenditure to process 100,000 t/y of bagasse and operating costs were approximately $200,000 p.a. The total capital cost for a 10,000 t/y operation was approximately $1.6 million. The cost of depithing based on a discounted cash flow analysis was $5.50 per tonne of bagasse for the 100,000 t/y scenario. This may make depithing prohibitively expensive in many situations if installed exclusively as a dust control measure.

Environmental reporting in the Australian mining industry : complying with regulation or meeting international best practice?

It is nearly 10 years since the introduction of s 299(1)(f) Corporations Act , which requires the disclosure of information regarding a company's environmental performance within its annual report. This provision has generated considerable debate in the years since its introduction, fundamentally between proponents of either a voluntary or mandatory environmental reporting framework. This study examines the adequacy of the current regulatory framework. The environmental reporting practices of 24 listed companies in the resources industries are assessed relative to a standard set by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. These Guidelines are argued to represent "international best practice" in environmental reporting and a "scorecard" approach is used to score the quality of disclosure according to this voluntary benchmark. Larger companies in the sample tend to report environmental information over and above the level required by legislation. Some, but not all companies present a stand-alone environmental/sustainability report. However, smaller companies provide minimal information in compliance with s 299(1)(f) . The findings indicate that "international best practice" environmental reporting is unlikely to be achieved by Australian companies under the current regulatory framework. In the current regulatory environment that scrutinises s 299(1)(f) , this article provides some preliminary evidence of the quality of disclosures generated in the Australian market.

Education for strategic environmental behavior

This article reviews four bodies of research that shed light on how to promote active care for the environment in children and youth: research on sources of proenvironmental behavior, socialization for democratic skills and values, the development of a personal sense of competence, and the development of collective competence. The article begins with an overview of studies of formative childhood experiences reported by environmental activists and educators, followed by correlational and experimental studies with young people regarding factors associated with their taking action for the environment. Because behaviors with the largest potential benefits for the environment require political engagement, the article also reviews experiences associated with young people’s interest and engagement in public issues. Action for the environment in the home or in public arena like schools and communities requires a personal sense of competence and a sense of collective competence, or confidence in one’s ability to achieve goals by working with a group. Therefore experiences that promote the development of these assets are summarized as well. The conclusion compares major findings in these different fields and discusses implications for environmental educators.

Analysing environmental acoustic data through collaboration and automation

Monitoring environmental health is becoming increasingly important as human activity and climate change place greater pressure on global biodiversity. Acoustic sensors provide the ability to collect data passively, objectively and continuously across large areas for extended periods. While these factors make acoustic sensors attractive as autonomous data collectors, there are significant issues associated with large-scale data manipulation and analysis. We present our current research into techniques for analysing large volumes of acoustic data efficiently. We provide an overview of a novel online acoustic environmental workbench and discuss a number of approaches to scaling analysis of acoustic data; online collaboration, manual, automatic and human-in-the loop analysis.

Environmental degradation of lignin/poly(hydroxybutyrate) blends

Blends of lignin and poly(hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) were obtained by melt extrusion. They were buried in a garden soil for up to 12 months, and the extent and mechanism of degradation were investigated by gravimetric analysis, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) over the entire range of compositions. The PHB films were disintegrated and lost 45 wt% of mass within 12 months. This value dropped to 12 wt% of mass when only 10 wt% of lignin was present, suggesting that lignin both inhibited and slowed down the rate of PHB degradation. TGA and DSC indicated structural changes, within the lignin/PHB matrix, with burial time, while FTIR results confirmed the fragmentation of the PHB polymer. XPS revealed an accumulation of biofilms on the surface of buried samples, providing evidence of a biodegradation mechanism. Significant surface roughness was observed with PHB films due to microbial attack caused by both loosely and strongly associated micro-organisms. The presence of lignin in the blends may have inhibited the colonisation of the micro-organisms and caused the blends to be more resistant to microbial attack. Analysis suggested that lignin formed strong hydrogen bonds with PHB in the buried samples and it is likely that the rate of breakdown of PHB is reduced, preventing rapid degradation of the blends.

Wing shape as a potential discriminator of morphologically similar pest taxa within the Bactrocera dorsalis species complex (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Four morphologically cryptic species of the Bactrocera dorsalis fruit fly complex (B. dorsalis s.s., B. papayae, B. carambolae and B. philippinensis) are serious agricultural pests. As they are difficult to diagnose using traditional taxonomic techniques, we examined the potential for geometric morphometric analysis of wing size and shape to discriminate between them. Fifteen wing landmarks generated size and shape data for 245 specimens for subsequent comparisons among three geographically distinct samples of each species. Intraspecific wing size was significantly different within samples of B. carambolae and B. dorsalis s.s. but not within samples of B. papayae or B. philippinensis. Although B. papayae had the smallest wings (average centroid size=6.002 mm±0.061 SE) and B. dorsalis s.s. the largest (6.349 mm±0.066 SE), interspecific wing size comparisons were generally non-informative and incapable of discriminating species. Contrary to the wing size data, canonical variate analysis based on wing shape data discriminated all species with a relatively high degree of accuracy; individuals were correctly reassigned to their respective species on average 93.27% of the time. A single sample group of B. carambolae from locality 'TN Malaysia' was the only sample to be considerably different from its conspecific groups with regards to both wing size and wing shape. This sample was subsequently deemed to have been originally misidentified and likely represents an undescribed species. We demonstrate that geometric morphometric techniques analysing wing shape represent a promising approach for discriminating between morphologically cryptic taxa of the B. dorsalis species complex.

Challenges to environmental toxicology and epidemiology : where do we stand and which way do we go?

Modern toxicology investigates a wide array of both old and new health hazards. Priority setting is needed to select agents for research from the plethora of exposure circumstances. The changing societies and a growing fraction of the aged have to be taken into consideration. A precise exposure assessment is of importance for risk estimation and regulation. Toxicology contributes to the exploration of pathomechanisms to specify the exposure metrics for risk estimation. Combined effects of co-existing agents are not yet sufficiently understood. Animal experiments allow a separate administration of agents which can not be disentangled by epidemiological means, but their value is limited for low exposure levels in many of today’s settings. As an experimental science, toxicology has to keep pace with the rapidly growing knowledge about the language of the genome and the changing paradigms in cancer development. During the pioneer era of assembling a working draft of the human genome, toxicogenomics has been developed. Gene and pathway complexity have to be considered when investigating gene–environment interactions. For a best conduct of studies, modern toxicology needs a close liaison with many other disciplines like epidemiology and bioinformatics.