In Fragebogen-Untersuchungen zur Lärmwirkung wurden bisher sehr unterschiedliche Operationalisierungen von Wirkungsvariablen (wie z.B. Belästigung, Störung von Aktivitäten) und außer-akustischen Faktoren (sog. Moderatoren wie z.B. Lärmempfindlichkeit, misfeasance) verwendet. Deshalb hat sich die Arbeitsgruppe community response der International Commission on the Biological Effects of Noise (ICBEN, Team No. 6) als langfristiges Ziel die Entwicklung von Fragebogen-Guidelines und die Formulierung eines Muster-Fragebogens für die Lärmwirkungsforschung gesetzt. D.h. es soll ein Vorschlag erarbeitet werden, in welcher Form globale und spezifische Lärmwirkungen in Befragungen erhoben werden sollten. Um dieses Vorhaben zu unterstützen, hat der Arbeitskreis Ökologische Lärmforschung die Erstellung einer systematischen Übersicht über vorhandene Fragebögen aus Lärmwirkungsstudien auf internationaler Ebene in Angriff genommen. Diese Übersicht soll es u.a. ermöglichen, die Struktur von verschiedenen Fragebögen sowie die in ihnen verwendeten Operationalisierungen für Lärmwirkungs- und Moderatorvariablen (hinsichtlich Art der Frageformulierung sowie der Antwortformate) zu vergleichen. Für den/die einzelne/n Lärmforscher/in bietet diese Übersicht die Möglichkeit, sich auf sehr effiziente Art und Weise darüber zu informieren, wie bestimmte Konstrukte in bisherigen Untersuchungen operationalisiert worden sind bzw. welche Alternativen zu den bereits selbst angewandten Operationalisierungen bestehen. Nach einer systematischen Ermittlung von Namen und Adressen einschlägiger Lärmforscher/innen, wurden diese um die Zusendung von Fragebögen sowie ergänzender Materialien aus eigenen Lärmwirkungsstudien gebeten. Die zugesandten Fragebögen werden gegebenenfalls übersetzt und mit der Methode der qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse ausgewertet. Hierbei werden die Fragebögen im Hinblick auf formelle Aspekte (z.B. Jahr der Erhebung, Sprache, Art der Befragungsmethode) wie auch im Hinblick auf strukturelle Aspekte (z.B. Umfang des Fragebogens, abgefragte Variablengruppen, Antwortformate) ausgewertet. Hauptgegenstand der Auswertung ist aber insbesondere die Auswertung der Lärmwirkungsvariablen (z.B. die Abfrage der globalen Lärmbelästigung, Aktivitätenstörungen, Kommunikationsstörungen) sowie der Moderatorvariablen (z.B. Lärmempfindlichkeit, Lärmbewältigungsvermögen, misfeasance). Parallel dazu wurde eine Datenbank entwickelt, in der die Ergebnisse der Analysen dargestellt und verwaltet werden. Diese Datenbank wird ab November 2001 im Internet unter http://www.eco.psy.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/nqd für jede/n interessierte/n Forscher/in zugänglich und nutzbar sein. Langfristig ist darüber hinaus geplant, ein Archiv mit den Original-Fragebögen aufzubauen, in dem einzelne Fragebögen auf Wunsch eingesehen werden können.
Non wood fuels for small-scale furnaces have attracted increasing interest in several European countries. New technological approaches are on the way, but the verification of any such developments is difficult and there is a large uncertainty about testing procedures and equipment. While for wood combustion standardized European measuring regulations are available and broadly applied, the testing of cereal fuel combustion is generally not following a commonly accepted procedure. Consequently the results of such measurements are not fully comparable. This applies particularly for the international level, which is here of particular relevance due to the fact that a combustion technology development for a niche application can only be economically viable if a sufficiently large marketing area can be taken into focus. The overall objective of the proposal is therefore to contribute through research to the development of uniform and comparable European procedures for testing of small-scale boilers up to a power out of 300 kW for solid biomass from agriculture like straw pellets and energy grain. The driving forces and barriers will be worked out; existing legal regulation for the installation (approval by the local authorities) in the participating countries will be collected. The state of the art of the non wood biomass boiler technology will be identified; the need for standardized tests for type approval tests and the measures to establish a European Standard will be shown. Measurement methods with special emphasis on efficiency and emissions will be worked out and the requirements and specifications of test fuels will be proposed. Test runs will be carried out following preliminary test procedures based on existing European standards for wood boilers. Based on the results of these test runs a draft for a Europe-wide uniform test procedure will be proposed. Preparatory work for a European standardization process including a round robin test will be done.
Problemstellung: Der Begriff der 'Guten fachlichen Praxis (GfP) in der Land- und Forstwirtschaft definiert rechtlich verankerte ökologische und naturschutzfachliche Mindestanforderungen an die Bewirtschaftung. In der Novelle des Bundesnaturschutzgesetzes wurde die GfP für die Landwirtschaft über Grundsätze mit konkreten Anforderungen verbunden. Die Chance der Integration naturschutzfachlicher Zielsetzungen in die Landbewirtschaftung soll auch für eine multifunktionale Forstwirtschaft genutzt werden. Dabei gewinnt die Ausgestaltung von weiterführenden finanziellen Anreiz- und Ausgleichssystemen zunehmend an Bedeutung. Sowohl die Vertreter des Waldbesitzes wie auch des Naturschutzes verweisen darauf, dass die Ziele des Waldnaturschutzes mit regulativen Instrumenten allein nur unzureichend sichergestellt werden können (siehe Nationales Waldprogramm, Erster Deutscher Waldgipfel). Deshalb sollten neben der legalen Definition der GfP naturschutzfachliche Grundlagen für den Einsatz finanzieller Instrumente zur ökologischen Honorierung naturschutzrelevanter Leistungen als ergänzender Baustein einer naturschutzpolitischen Gesamtstrategie für den Wald entwickelt werden.
The Commission proposal of Groundwater Directive COM(2003)550 developed under Article 17 of the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) sets out criteria for the assessment of the chemical status of groundwater, which is based on existing Community quality standards (nitrates, pesticides and biocides) and on the requirement for Member States to identify pollutants and threshold values that are representative of groundwater bodies found as being at risk, in accordance with the analysis of pressures and impacts carried out under the WFD. In the light of the above, the objectives of BRIDGE are: i) to study and gather scientific outputs which could be used to set out criteria for the assessment of the chemical status of groundwater, ii) to derive a plausible general approach, how to structure relevant criteria appropriately with the aim to set representative groundwater threshold values scientifically sound and defined at national river basin district or groundwater body level, iii) to check the applicability and validity by means of case studies at European scale, iv) to undertake additional research studies to complete the available data, v) and to carry out an environmental impact assessment taking into account the economic and social impacts. The project shall be carried out at European level, involving a range of stakeholders and efficiently linking the scientific and policy-making communities. Considering the requirement of the diary of the Groundwater Daughter Directive proposal, which implies that groundwater pollutants and related threshold values should be identified before December 2005 and listed by June 2006, the duration of the project should be 24 months. In that way the proposed research will contribute to provide research elements that will be indispensable for preparing discussions on further steps of the future Groundwater Directive. Prime Contractor: Bureau de Recherches Geologiques et Minieres, Service Analyse et Caracterisation Minerale, Paris FR
Biodiversity indicators and monitoring frameworks are currently developed at global and European levels. A key tool for monitoring progress in achieving the EU target to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2010 is the recently endorsed set of EU headline biodiversity indicators. A requirement by the EU is to complement the indicator set and the development of biodiversity monitoring frameworks with tools that are able to assess the impacts from Community policies on biodiversity. This BioScore proposal aims at satisfying this requirement by developing a tool for linking pressures from policy sectors to the (change of) state of biodiversity as measured by the presence and abundance of individual species. A database is proposed that will contain information on the ecological preferences of individual species, in relation to individual sectoral pressures and relating to selected Community policies as well as the EU headline biodiversity indicators. This tool will be applied for assessing impacts and the effectiveness of biodiversity conservation policies based on historic data as well as for forecasting future impacts based on existing scenario studies. The results of these assessments will consist of European maps. The BioScore tool will be integrated into existing biodiversity monitoring frameworks and incentives for uptake will be formulated. Also the database will be made freely accessible on the Internet. The specific objectives of this proposal are to: - build a cost-effective impact assessment tool in the form of a European species database with sensitivity scores;apply the tool for the purpose of assessing the impacts of key drivers and pressures on biodiversity; - apply the tool for analysing the efeffectiveness of European policy responses; - apply the tool for modelling European-wide scenarios for selected drivers; - integrate the database into a common monitoring framework to assess the impact of selected pressures on biodiversity.
The adoption of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive 91/271/EEC imposes the sewage sludge to be subsequently treated so it is expected by 2005 to increase twofold in comparison whit 1992. However, classical incineration to treat this vast amount of sludge must be no longer accepted from an environmental point of view. In addition, the Sewage Sludge Directive 86/278/EEC regulates the uses and properties of stabilised sludge for being either recycled or disposed. Both directives drive specific actions in two complementary ways. Firstly, a deep knowledge of current sludge treatment, such as mesophilic, thermophilic or autothermophilic processes, must be promoted to solve that problem in the UE ambit, taking in account the particular considerations of each treatment facility. In second place, the development of new processes must be supported to open new alternatives that could valorise that waste.The proposal aims at developing strategies for the disposal and reuse of waste sludge. The scope envisages to develop several processes for reducing both amount and toxicity of sludge, with simultaneous transformation into green energy vectors such as methane or hydrogen. In outline, mesophilic and mainly thermophilic and autothermophilic conditions will be deeply explored as classical alternatives for sludge stabilisation, assuring sanitary conditions of the treated sludge. Also, valuable materials will be obtained from sludge, such as activated carbons, which will be used in conventional adsorption processes and in innovative advanced oxidation processes.The main outcomes expected at the end of the projects are guidelines for technology selection in agreement with the geographic, economic and technical characteristics of the sewage plants, demonstration of the feasibility of new applications for the sewage sludge, manufacturing of activated carbon from sludge sewage as innovative recycling of sludge waste, and a deep understanding of the methods involved. Prime Contractor: Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain.
Under the 2003 EU Greek presidency, cooperation with Balkan countries on environmental issues was identified as a priority of the EU/Balkan Action Plan. Large-scale co-operation is essential for effective action in the vulnerable Mediterranean and Black Sea coastal zones. During the last 50 years both areas suffered major changes; as semi-enclosed basins, both Seas are ultra-sensitive to anthropogenic stress and to climate change. An EU Presidency Conference on Sustainable Development in the Mediterranean/Black Sea (May 2003), revealed major gaps in management structures, scientific strategies and identified a diversity of environmental issues to be resolved through priority-focused RTD cooperation. Yet, while pressure on the resources of the two seas increases and the potential impact of climate change on coastal and deep-sea resources remains unknown, the two seas have never been jointly studied as systems of interacting basins and ecosystems. The proposal outlines collaboration and clustering schemes involving environmental, economic and scientific organisations in Mediterranean, Black Sea and other EU nations, in order to create synergies in networking and exchanges at several levels, addressing for the first time the system of interconnected basins as one, based on the integration of, both horizontally and vertically, natural scientists and economists. These will: 1) Create an international, interdisciplinary platform coordinating the region's scientific potential in order to prepare RTD projects, based on a Science Plan for the region, securing sustainable development; 2) Focus on natural and anthropogenic pressures exerted upon the functioning of the ecosystem; 3) Reinforce RTD capacity by setting up an environment/resource monitoring network in the light of existing observation networks of different scopes. Prime Contractor: Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Oceanography, Anavyssos, GR.
The mayor goals of this proposal are: Analysis of the microbial community present in the fluid, sediment and attached to mineral phases and their temporal and spatial variation depending on 16S rDNA targeted DGGE for Bacteria and Archaea. Identification of key population and their detection by fluorescence in situ hybridization in the hydrotheram fluid, sediment and on mineral surfaces. Detection and distribution of sulfate-reducing and sulfur-oxidizing microorganisms by functional gene analysis based on an aprA gene fragment. Quantification, enrichment, and isolation of chemolithoautotrophic aerobic and nitrate reducing sulfur- and hydrogen-oxidizing microorganisms by cultivation based methods. Quantification, enrichment, and isolation of autotrophic sulfate-reducing microorganisms by cultivation based methods. Enrichment and isolation of microorganisms to grow on mineral sulfides which might catalyze 'marine leaching'. The combination of cultivation based methods and differnt molecular tools will allow a verification of the obtained results.
Working group 7 (Agriculture) under the European Climate Change Programme has so far mainly dealt with mitigation potentials of GHG. A thorough integrated economic and environmental assessment in the area of agriculture and sinks has not yet been carried out. In order to support the international negotiation process and for the development of good policies the Integrated Sink Enhancement Assessment (INSEA) project's objective is to develop an analytical tool to assess economic and environmental effects for enhancing carbon sinks in agriculture and forestry. The approach is centered on spatially explicit databases that will allow the calculation of 'cost-landscapes' taking on an engineering approach to integrated costs computation of additional sink enhancement measures and negative emission technologies. The various model structures will be applied to detailed European data sets and less detailed global data sets assessing the marginal abatement cost and long-term scenarios of sink enhancement measures. Concise policy conclusions from the modeling exercise will aim at supporting the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol commitments as well as post Kyoto negotiations. In the proposal we advocate a spatially explicit approach that is motivated by the fact that LULUCF activities are by their very nature spatial entities and aggregate non-spatial treatment could, according to our experience, lead to serious biases in the assessment. Furthermore, we propose not only a simple and easily tractable static and deterministic approach for cost calculations, but also more comprehensive, dynamic, and uncertainty (risk)-based treatments. We believe that such a multidimensional approach is necessary since ecosystems are more complicated and complex in their responses and therefore robustness and consistency across a variety of decision rules will guarantee sustainable management of this natural resource.
Objective: Healthy housing and good indoor air quality are important goals of public health. However, biological indoor pollution due to dampness, moisture and mold is an emerging environmental health issue, as recognized in EU indoor air policy documents. Prevalence of dampness is remarkable, and may still increase due to demands of energy savings and extreme weather periods and floods associated with climate change. The exposure may lead to long-term impacts such as asthma. The documentation is strong on association between building mold and health, but the causative agents and disease mechanisms are largely unknown, which impedes recognition of a mold-affected patient in health care. Efficient control and regulation are hampered by the insufficient understanding of these causalities. Understanding of the links between building practices and health is lacking. There is an urgent need for European-wide knowledge to form a basis for establishing building-associated criteria for healthy indoor environments. The aim of this proposal is to clarify the health impacts of indoor exposures on children and adults by providing comprehensive exposure data on biological and chemical factors in European indoor environments.
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